Blue Crayon
by Dotey
Summary: Life sucks when you're seven and you're stuck with the most annoying prat the world has ever seen. But people can change with time, and what will happen when two childhood friends are reunited after long years apart? Some feelings can't stay hidden forever and some things are meant to be. Modern Merlin/Arthur fic.
1. Chapter 1

_1997_

His blue eyes narrowed furiously, eying his nemesis across the room. This time it had gone too far. He would be made to pay for this - Merlin wasn't going to let him get away with it.

With a cry of rage he hurtled himself to the other side of the room where said nemesis was, the blonde grasping the prize with joy, eyes alight with victory. _For now_, he thought.

Their bodies thudded together as Merlin slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Merlin thought he'd managed to get a good hit on the older boy but as he felt himself being pushed to the side and a fistful of hair being yanked out of his head, he started to see the flaws in his plan. Number one: Arthur was nearly a year older than him. Number two: he was nearly half a head taller. And number three: getting into a fight when your mother watching-

"_Merlin!" _he heard from across the room. He jumped up as best he could, still wincing and pretty sure he'd lost a fair chunk of hair, and put on his best and most innocent smile. God knows how many times he'd had to whip it out in the past couple of weeks.

Hunith quickly strode through the children, now gathered around in anticipation of a fight, her eyes blazing and smoke threatening to pour out of her ears. Not that Merlin had actually seen smoke pouring out of someone's ears, but that's usually what happens when people get real angry in cartoons. Either that or their head exploded. And boy did she look real angry.

He felt the sharp pinch as she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him outside- no wonder his ears where so big, it was probably all the dragging around he got. She slammed the door open and strode outside into the cool air of the playground, crouching down and forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"Merlin we talked about this sweetheart. Uncle Gaius is being very nice to us, remember? He's letting me work for him while you stay here at the centre and play with the other boys and girls, and we can't let him think that we're not grateful, can we?" Her eyes had softened and her familiar warm smile had found its way back to her face. "I know you might not get along with some of the boys", she pulled his face back to her as he sought to glare at his nemesis again, "but you're just going to have to live with it. You're not like most other little boys, I know, but you can't go causing trouble, okay?" He gave back a grudging half-smile and a mumble of agreement before she stood up to leave. "I'll be back to pick you up at six, okay?" She gave him one last peck on the cheek and strode towards the car. "Be good for Uncle Gaius! I love you!"

Merlin watched the car pull out of the parking lot before he turned back to head inside. It was nine in the morning now and she'd be back at seven... only ten more hours to go. He could do this.

With a huff he stormed back inside and remembering the promise to his mother, returned to the other side of the room and picked up his drawing again. Seems that he'd have to do it without his blue crayon though, it didn't look like the blonde prat was going to give it back anytime soon. He still felt flickers of annoyance go through him each time he thought about it; from the second he'd walked in the door a week ago, Arthur had been out to get him. It wasn't like he hadn't been bullied before, being a short seven year old who never quite knew when to shut up certainly didn't stick him on the cool list. But it wasn't like Arthur even wanted to bully him, he was just being _annoying._

The crayon stealing incident hadn't been the first one either; it had started with the balloon popping incident on the first day. Arthur had decided it would be a good idea to jump on a pile of balloons the class had been blowing up to decorate around the centre just as Merlin was walking past. Fair to say, that hilarious prank had resulted in Merlin being the laughing stock of the class for the rest of the afternoon after letting loose a particularly high pitched squeal. And of course it didn't help when Arthur "accidently" spilt pink glitter all over his brand new shoes, or when his lunchbox somehow ended up in a tree. Merlin had just shrugged it off; he was used to dealing with idiots, at least until the crayon incident went down.

He'd been drawing Mr Dragon, the same one that had been popping up in his dreams for as long as he could remember; the golden dragon with the voice of an old, sad man. It seemed like every night it was calling to him but no matter how hard Merlin called back, he never quite heard the reply. It felt sometimes like he was just shouting into a huge dark cave and hearing his own voice calling back to him. His mother had told him to stop having too much sugar before bed.

For his age and for the broken and nubby crayons he was using, he was quite proud of how Mr Dragon had turned out. Even though when Mr Dragon spoke to him he seemed to be somewhere cold and dark, he always made sure to draw him out in the sky, flying over forests and being free. Merlin could just imagine what it would be like to soar through the skies, wind through his hair, screaming from the pure joy of being alive-

Then he felt the presence of the older boy at his back. Immediately he knew he was in trouble. Trying to ignore the imminent danger - _maybe Arthur had upgraded to wedgies? -_ he reached out for the blue crayon, intent of giving his dragon the whole of the skies to roam. Before his hand could make it there though, another quickly reached out and snatched it away. Feeling his blood start to boil he stood up and turned to the older boy, who stood over him smugly. Arthur Pendragon. All half a head taller and acting like he was king of the world. Well that was rich kids for you.

His blue eyes glinted mockingly, challenging Merlin to a fight. What was he going to do about it? Oh, Merlin would make the braggart pay. Arthur gave a snort of triumph and flashed his most annoying smirk before strolling his way back over the other side of the room.

Then came the series of events, flailing limbs, hair pulling and all, that lead to Merlin getting into trouble. And now he was back where he started but a little bit sorer and still lacking a blue crayon. It looked like Mr Dragon wouldn't be getting his freedom today, for a matter of fact it didn't look like Merlin would be getting his for some time either.

His mother had lost her job a couple of months ago when the small café bookshop she'd worked in had closed down. They'd come from a small city far away from London, and when it had closed there had been no other choice. His mother had somehow known a strange and eccentric old man living in London that he had to call Uncle Gaius, though he knew he wasn't his real family cause he didn't have any other real family left. Uncle Gaius, who'd turned out to be principal of the local school, had found his mum somewhere to work and let Merlin stay in vacation care during the long holiday break. He doubted any other child in the world had ever said these words, but he couldn't wait for school to start. Ten hours a day doing nothing but drawing and playing games in the presence of Arthur Pendragon had suddenly made Merlin the most eager student-to-be of Albion Primary.

He could still feel Arthur's eyes on him, _probably plotting his next brilliant move_, he thought. Sighing in frustration he snatched his drawing from the table and marched outside, hoping Arthur would be too lazy to bother him out there. At least when school started Arthur wouldn't be in the same grade as him, and if he was lucky, the prat would soon forget he ever existed.

One more week. He could do this.


	2. Chapter 2

_1998_

_A Year Later_

Life didn't get much better for Arthur Pendragon than on the last day of school. And with his father away on business trips for the whole of the six weeks he'd have absolutely no one to both him. Well except for Morgana, but she was getting to cool to be seen anywhere near her little brother anyway. Mrs Black, their nanny, was a kind woman, but with nine years of experience, Arthur had perfected his ability to manipulate her down to a fine art.

Grabbing his bag he carefully slipped out of the doorway, careful to escape any possible awkward goodbyes from his father. Uther wasn't a bad man, but he'd never been cut out to be a father. When his mum died, Arthur and Morgana were raised almost singlehandedly by Mrs Black, with the occasional appearance from Uther every couple of weeks. At least his father liked Morgana, but Arthur was the splitting image of his mother, bright blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and Uther could never forgive him for it. As he'd grown older he was lucky if his father even looked at him.

Stepping out into the bright summer's day was a miracle, whenever his father was home the house was shut up like a den, the great marble more like a prison than a mansion. It was a quick walk to school and he enjoyed the momentary peace that came with being along. It was rare that he was able to escape by himself; Mrs Black usually bullied Morgana into acting as his bodyguard, a role that she was extremely unsatisfied with. After turning eleven this year and starting secondary school next after the holidays, Morgana was now the epitome of coolness. She would rather be dead than caught babysitting her little brother.

Albion Primary came into view as he rounded a corner, the rest of the children already running around like lunatics. Arthur smiled, even though he was only nine, he liked to think he was one of the top dogs around. Jolting himself into a jog as he heard the first school bell ring, he crossed the road and jumped the fence, landing on the soft turf. Walking through the school he managed to catch an evil eye from Morgana, already huddled around in a group of sobbing girls saying their goodbyes, _even though you're all going to see each other next year_, Arthur though, sending an eye roll back in her direction. There were a few puppy dog eyes from the girls in his class, all of which he was sure had 3 Mrs Pendragon 3 on their notebooks. He finally spotted his two best mates on the oval, already kicking around the football and it wasn't even eight yet. Leon had been his best mate since they were little, and even though Lance had only transferred to the school this year, he was already one of the most popular boys in school. He had a feeling that Lance was probably in close competition to him when it came to the number of girls swooning over him.

The school year couldn't have dragged on any slower and Arthur just wanted to get today over and done with. Of course that wasn't quite was Mrs Hartlock had in mind, the old bat of a year four teacher wanted to make it as painful as possible, and wickedly informed them that they would be starting off with maths today. Maths. At nine in the morning. Surely there were child protection laws about this. They were just about to get started when the door peeped open and a little head popped through the doorway.

"Oh Merlin we forgot about you, come on, sit down, we're just about to get started. Page 26 in the workbook". Arthur rolled his eyes, Merlin had to be the biggest geek around. Not only did he sit by himself every lunchtime, but he was such an apparent whiz that the principal came and made him do year four maths with his class. But there was something about the smaller boy that Arthur couldn't quite put his finger on, not that it stopped him from his hilarious practical jokes. He couldn't understand why Merlin didn't find what Arthur did funny; his _pièce de résistance_ should have been the time Arthur had snuck into the classroom early and put worms in the drawer of the desk Merlin sat at. He'd tried it out a couple of weeks beforehand on one of the girls with great results; the whole class of girls had run out of the class screaming. However Merlin had just opened his drawer, frowned at it, and automatically shot Arthur a piercing look, before returning to his work. There was something in that look that still bugged Arthur, and it made him redouble his efforts towards pranking Merlin. He was the pranking master after all.

He opened his drawer rummaged through for a pen, his fingers brushing against something else as he scrounged through the empty lolly wrappers and scrunched up love letters from his numerous admirers. A smirk came across his face as he pulled out the nubby little blue crayon that had been sitting in his desk since the start of school. He'd thought of giving it back to Merlin several times, but then if someone saw him making friends with the geek there'd be big consequences for him. So for now, he just kept it, sitting there in his drawer as a little reminder of the one time he had made Merlin crack. God, it had been worth it.

He struggled through the first five minutes of maths before deciding that he could excuse himself from work, it was the last day of school after all. Keeping his book open just in case Mrs Hartlock decided to be cruel and check up on him, he let his mind wander down the familiar paths of day dreaming. Soon, he was snoring.

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**A/N: Thanks so much for all the great reviews, they mean so much to me! This is just a quick update but I'll be posting more soon :) Please review and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear your suggestions! **

**Copyright: I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. **


	3. Chapter 3

The bell rang and Merlin quickly grabbed his books and made for the door. The boys in this class may only have been a year older than him, but being the school geek and all didn't really put him in their good books. And their bad books were a place Merlin would prefer to stay far, far away from. He inwardly cursed Uncle Gaius for this brilliant idea of his, putting Merlin up a grade in maths, an idea his mother hadn't let him say no to. Before that, Merlin was actually starting to make friends, and Arthur and his lot hadn't even noticed him. Then he got moved up because of his "impressive results", according to Gaius, so that he could "inspire the older children to push themselves just as hard". But really, the only thing it achieved was getting Merlin pushed around harder.

He was almost at the door when he snuck a glance back over his shoulder at Pendragon. Of course the idiot was asleep on his desk, and Merlin gave him about twenty seconds before Mrs Hartlock gave him a good earful. Merlin let a small smirk creep onto his face, _that'd show him. _He'd thought in just under a year the novelty of pushing Merlin around would have worn off Arthur, but he still seemed to be his main source of kicks. Not that Arthur went as far or as cruel as the other boys, but it was still that annoying, pestering, constantly-looking-over-your-shoulder-or-he-might-have-another-bucket-of-worms-ready sort of thing. It was almost like Arthur had just been sitting on his shoulder and poking him for the past year, like he was just waiting for Merlin to crack. But Merlin refused to give him the satisfaction.

He was starting to think he'd escaped out of there too quickly when the felt someone looming over his back. Then all of the sudden there was a push from behind and his scrawny limbs were hurtling fast towards the ground. Luckily his textbooks were there to break the fall, but he could almost feel where the bruises on his arms would be springing up tomorrow. Rolling onto his side, he looking upwards to see his attacker: the biggest and most-likely-to-be-a-psychopath kid in the school, Valiant. Merlin didn't understand how a nine year old could even get that big. Even the older kids steered clear of him, and the rest of the school knew that if he looked in your direction, you were toast. And now he was towering over Merlin, a maniac grin on his face and his equally brain dead groupies crowded around behind him.

Valiant's foot came out and nudged his arm; clearly he was interested in playing with his food before he ate it. Merlin tried to scramble to his feet but Valiant had other ideas, and planted a firm foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Now Merlin was in trouble.

"Hey there _Merrr-_lin. What are you doing on the ground for?" He looked around at his groupies who were sniggering at his obvious comedic genius. Merlin bit back a sharp remark and decided that not reacting may save his behind. He again tried to squirm away from Valiant's foot but it was planted firmly on his chest. Valiant leant forward, applying more pressure, and the group started sniggering again as Merlin began to squirm in pain. Why were there never any teachers around when they were actually needed? Valiant eased of a bit when Merlin started gasping for air but kept Merlin firmly pinned underneath him. "You think you're pretty clever don't you _Merrr-_lin? Well you know what I think? I think your dad buggered off because he couldn't stand the sight of you". He glanced around for support again. "Isn't that right boys? Buggered off and got himself killed, didn't he?"

Merlin's eyes flashed with fury and he felt something inside him snap. He could take all the worms from Arthur and all the jibes from the other kids, but he wouldn't let _anyone_ get away with bringing up his dad. He'd make Valiant pay for that one. He launched himself towards the older boy and dug his fingernails into his leg, drawing them back and watching blood spring up behind. Valiant's foot may have let up for a moment in surprise - _no one took on Valiant -_ but just as Merlin was ready to make his escape he recovered and slammed his foot back into Merlin's chest. The wind was knocked out of Merlin's chest and his head smacked back against the bitumen, bringing little stars into his vision. He could make out Valiant's face above him, eyes seething with rage and fist pulled back, ready to make contact with his face. Just as Merlin closed his eyes in the anticipation of being beaten to a pulp, he felt the older boy on top of him go flying off and heard him land on the bitumen with a solid _thump_ behind him.

He peeked one eye open, still not believing that he'd managed to escape that thrashing, to see Valiant lying on his back, wheezing and trying to get the air back into his lungs. Looking around, he saw that Valiant's posse had scattered off in all directions pretty fast. Merlin scrambled to his feet, bringing a hand to his forehead as stars danced across his vision again, and closed his eyes again trying to stop swaying on the spot. He felt an arm on his shoulder, steadying him, and when he'd stopped swaying he looked up at -

_What the actual hell?_

Arthur-freaking-Pendragon was standing in front of him; hand on his shoulder, with a look that could actually be mistaken for concern on his face. Arthur-freaking-Pendragon had just knocked a freaking psychopath to the ground in an attempt to stop the school geek from being beaten to a pulp. Merlin was quite confident he'd sustained a pretty serious head injury to be coming up with this. Or the universe had just completely reversed itself. Cause there was no logical reason for why Arthur-_freaking_-pendragon, his bloody nemesis if he ever had one, was actually trying to _help_ him.

Arthur seemed to quickly come to his senses and the look of concern was wiped from his face, and he coughed awkwardly. Some part of Merlin vaguely informed him that his mouth was probably still hanging open in confusion, and he shook himself back into reality, shrugging Arthur's hand from his shoulder.

"Um.. thanks.. I guess... you know Valiant, I had it under control though-" Arthur's face seemed to light up in amusement at this comment, the familiar Pendragon smirk finding its way back to his face.

"Oh really Merlin? Cause from where I was standing, he was just about to make Merlin soup out of you..." Merlin found himself laughing back when he suddenly remembered what was going on, and abruptly stopped laughing and went back to picking up his books. He scrambled around awkwardly to pick up what had gone flying and got back to his feet, about to thank Arthur somehow - _how was he meant to do that? - _when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Uncle Gaius fuming towards where they were standing. He certainly didn't look happy, running as fast as his old legs would take him and his bald head glistening with sweat from the exertion, down from the office building.

Merlin turned back to Arthur to say something, only to find the prat had already buggered off. He'd probably figured that someone with his reputation as "practical joker" as Merlin had heard him put it wouldn't want to get caught up in this incident. Uncle Gaius fussed around Merlin for a minute, muttering "Hunith'll kill me" under his breath, and once he was satisfied Merlin hadn't sustained anything life-threatening, he let out a sigh of relief and slipped back into his role as principal. He gave a stern look to Merlin and his eyebrow rose dangerously high up his face.

"Something you'd like to tell me about young man?" Merlin considered telling him the obvious truth for a moment, _yes I just nearly got beaten to a pulp by the gorilla you classify as a nine year old,_ when he spotted a few of Valiant's cronies hanging around within ear shot. Today just really didn't seem to be going his way.

"You know me Unc- I mean sir - always falling over things... darn shoelaces it must have been", he managed to mutter out. He watched as Uncle Gaius' eyebrow rose even further up in disbelief.

"Are you sure Merlin, because some of the children said they'd seen Mr Valiant causing strife-"

At this Merlin saw Valiant's cronies look up, giving him a look that clearly said Valiant would be hearing anything that came out of Merlin's mouth.

"Just the shoelaces sir."

God Merlin couldn't wait for six weeks of freedom.

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**A/N: Lots of procrastination in the form of writing was done today, so here's another update! I'm really enjoying writing it and I haven't even gotten up to the good bit yet! Exciting things planned ;) I'd love to hear from you, so please review! Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading it, I'll hopefully be able to update soon!**

**Copyright: I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners.**


	4. Chapter 4

The crack of dawn had only just hit, the first slivers of sunlight creeping through the curtain blinds, and Arthur Pendragon was already half way out the bedroom door. After all, he only had six weeks, and he intended to make the absolute most of them. He crept through the still silent hallways of the old marble mansion, keeping his ears open for the ever-wary Mrs Black. She was as quiet as a mouse when she wanted to be, and his plans had been foiled too many times by her owl ears. He shuddered at the thought of his whole day being ruined if she decided they'd spend a family day at the park - it had happened once before and he swore it would never happen again. His plans going to waste was bad enough, but having to spend a whole day with Morgana in her current state... no he wouldn't even let his mind go down that train of thought.

Morgana had locked herself in her room the night before in hysterics; it seemed she hadn't taken their father's surprise announcement last night with the same amount of glee Arthur had. Morgana going off to boarding school, in _America_, no less - the holidays couldn't have possibly gotten off to a better start. According to their father, it was the school their mother had gone to, and she would have wanted Morgana to follow in her footsteps. Morgana wasn't so easily convinced. Arthur realised that the hour he spent alone with his father while waiting out Morgana's tantrum was the longest time they'd spent together since - well Arthur couldn't even remember the last time that'd happened. When she'd finally managed to control herself somewhat she'd returned to tell Uther that she would rather die than leave her friends, and had then locked herself in her room as a form of protest. Arthur had thought it wise not to remark that she already looked like death, with her eyes red and puffy and her hair a little bit all over the place, she looked more like a horror movie victim than an eleven year old heiress.

Still, the thought of being alone did scare Arthur a little bit. Even though he and his sister were more or less sworn enemies, somewhere _deep _down he would miss her. But then he'd realised that his father might let him move into Morgana's room which was far bigger than his, and all of the sudden the thought of losing her didn't seem so bad after all. In fact, Arthur was pretty sure he could get used to it just fine. And besides, he'd still have Gwen to muck around with if he really got bored. Mrs Black sometimes brought her daughter, who was just a little bit younger than Arthur, to work when her husband was busy; she was pretty shy but always worth a good laugh.

Arthur spurred into action as he heard the distant _click-clack_ of Mrs Black's shoes on the cold floors; there was no way he'd let himself be tied down today. It couldn't even have been six in the morning yet, and Arthur figured he'd have plenty of time to get lost in the Albion forest and still make it back for dinner. He knew he couldn't let himself be any later; Mrs Black had been known to send out search parties after him. Arthur wouldn't be surprised if the next time it happened she had half the town and rescue helicopters scouring the forest. But no one could know where he was going today, not even Leon or Lance, because it had to be a total secret.

He grabbed the small backpack he had stashed away last night, full to the brim with everything he could possibly need, and as sneakily as he could, slid out the front door. The breath of cold morning air that hit his face just smelt of adventure, and Arthur tingled with excitement. He felt like a spy from one of those movies his dad hated, the rough-and-tumble action and explosions and bad guys and machine guns type as he crept through the empty street towards the forest. The sun was just starting to peak through the horizon, tinting the clouds pink as the town began to stir to life. He'd been caged up in the house too long, and escaping to school wasn't really escaping at all. But being out here, where no one knew where he was and where he was completely and utterly free - it felt amazing.

The temperature instantly dropped as he entered the shade of the dark forest, and Arthur's anticipation only grew. He followed the old track Leon and he had discovered ages ago, which they'd promptly decided had been a hunting track, where brave knights battled and their valiant steeds had once fought huge bucks and ferocious boars. Striding down this path he didn't feel like a nine year old with a backpack slung over one shoulder; he was Prince Arthur and he was heading straight into the dragon's den.

He'd found the old tree house, or mountain-top abode of the mighty dragon as he liked to think, a couple of weekends beforehand, whilst his father was still away. He hadn't dared breathe a word of it to Morgana, who would most definitely have used it as blackmail the second his father stepped through the door. And of course he couldn't have told his father; Arthur didn't really understand why but his father persecuted anything that sounded like "make-believe nonsense". Now that he was back in America settling some new business deal or whatever it was he did, Arthur could escape once again and have all the make-believe fun he wanted.

Finding the old broken tree that marked where he had to leave the trail, he wrestled his way through the thick undergrowth and entered the wilderness. He doubted anyone had been through this part of the forest for years. The light barely filtered through the thick canopy of trees, the dim light made him feel as though he'd just stepped out of the real world into the past. He was Prince Arthur, and he was bravely questing through the magical lands of Camelot in search of his prize. There might even be a princess at the end if he was lucky. The tree hou- _magical den_, he corrected himself, loomed overhead at the very highest point of the mountain and he thought he could spot the silhouette of a dragon circling through the dark and gloomy clouds. He valiantly fought up the mountainside, sword in hand, lightning searing all around him, the dragon screaming furiously from the skies. Prince Arthur grinned and battled on, the hunger for adventure spurring him on to the very top of the mountain. He could almost reach the lip of the den, just a little bit further, he just had to reach a little bit more-

His heart jolted and suddenly he was Arthur Pendragon, nine years old, and climbing a tree. Well trying to climb a tree; he was now hanging from a branch with one hand and desperately trying not to drop the backpack that had slipped of his shoulder with the other hand. From its half unzipped mouth he saw a few of possession go falling to the ground as he shrugged it back onto his shoulder and reached up again to grab the lip of the tree house. With a final mighty shove he hauled his slim body into the tree house, grinning with exertion and excitement pulsing through his veins. If only his father could see him now, see how much fun this was - but that was his father for you. Arthur half expected that the day when Uther Pendragon laughed the world would implode on itself.

Pushing the thoughts of his father from his mind, he stood up to admire the old tree house. The whole thing was covered in a thick green moss and one of the sides was broken were the tree had actually started growing through it. The whole thing was magnificent, dragons den or not. It may not have been the size of a mountain, but the tree was quite a bit taller than most of the ones Arthur usually climbed and was several metres off the ground. The house itself was built into the canopy of the old tree, the green moss camouflaging it so well Arthur wasn't surprised no one else had found it. It squeaked a little bit too much for Arthur's liking, but he had six weeks to fix the place up and he swore he'd turn into an abode fit for a prince.

Grabbing what was left in his back pack he scrambled through it till he found what he needed. He pulled out the old tape measure he'd nicked from Morgana's sewing kit and got to work measuring the size of the holes in the wood where the tree had broken through and the floorboards he'd have to replace. Arthur reckoned that with a bit of wood here are there, maybe a coat of paint and an old carpet, he'd have it looking brand new in no time. He finished marking down the measurements on a scrap of paper and pulled out the snacks he'd managed to grab when Mrs Black's back was turned. He settled down on the floor with his loot, his mind still buzzing with plans and measurements and ways to sneak old carpet out of the house, and let his mind wander back down the familiar path of princes, dragons and magic.

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**A/N: I've been playing around with this chapter for a bit and I'm not quiiite happy with it, but I really wanted to bring in the tree house! It'll come back in a pretty big way later on... I'm having a great time writing this and a huge thanks to all the people who've supported it! I can't wait to get to the exciting stuff, but please let me know if you've got any suggestions or criticisms, I'm all ears :) Or you can just feed my ego and say lots of nice stuff about it, I'm not picky :P **

**Copyright: I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners.**


	5. Chapter 5

Legs pumping, arms flying wildly, Merlin Emrys spun around the street corner and took off towards his destination, his assailant close behind. He snuck a quick peek back over his shoulder, spurring himself faster as he saw her closing in, an almost predatory smirk on her face. Freya wasn't the sort of girl to play nice, Merlin knew that from experience. And she definitely wasn't the sort of girl who'd let him off easy. Especially not in tag and kiss chasy.

The forest was in sight now - _faster, faster! _- he just had to make it to the end of the street and he'd be able to lose her in the thick green depths. He could hear her calling his name behind him; she was getting closer - _so close now! -_ and he knew he'd be in trouble if he didn't get her off his tracks. There was only a few houses now between him and the forest but he could hear her footsteps pounding on the pavement just behind him - _hurry up!_

Chest heaving with exhaustion he launched himself into the forest, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the sudden darkness under the mighty old trees. He ignored the screaming from his muscles that told him to stop, and pounded through the forest at lightning speed. Merlin dodged past great branches and vaulted over fallen trees, only daring to peek over his shoulder when he heard the footsteps fading from behind. He let himself momentarily rejoice at the success of his plan, propelling himself forward once more when he heard her stumbling through. God she wasn't going to give in, was she?

The path winded and bended into the heart of the great old forest, and Merlin pushed the niggling in the back of his mind to the side, the niggling that told him he had no idea where he was. The light was even dimmer here, and he'd already caught himself a few times from falling over the wary path. He'd just passed a great old tree with a fork down its centre, Freya still close behind, when he thought he felt something pull him towards off the trail. Not forceful, but like someone had attached a string to him and was just gently guiding him in that direction. He glanced over him shoulder, he couldn't see her yet, and with a _why not? _shrug, launched himself off the path and into the bushes. He froze in his hiding place, wondering if she'd caught him, when a moment later she sped on down the path right past him, not even looking at where he was hidden.

His heart leapt with joy, he'd beaten her this time. He knew next time though she'd be ruthless. Merlin stayed hidden for a few more minutes, just to make sure she hadn't doubled back. When he was satisfied she'd truly gone, he got back out of the bushes and went to make his way home again. But as soon as he set his feet on the path, the invisible string was back again. With every step he took, it became a little more forceful - whatever it was it clearly didn't want him going home just yet.

Merlin thought about it for a few minutes; it was afternoon but the sun wouldn't start going down for hours yet, surely he'd have more than enough time to explore. And it wasn't like his mother would mind; he'd spent all of last night convincing her that he was old enough not to spend the holidays at vacation care and she wouldn't be home until dinner time. Satisfied that he wouldn't be getting himself into any trouble, he trotted back to the bushes he had hid in, pushing past them to get to the other side. There was no beaten track on this side of the bushes, just long grass and shrubs amongst the ancient old trunks. He thought he spied a bit of a trail though a little bit further up, as though someone had been down this path not long before. His nerves tingling with excitement and sense of adventure fully alighted, he head off down the trail, content to have no idea where he was going.

The greenery around him grew thicker and more ominous as he went, and the canopy of the trees blocked out almost all the light. He felt as though he'd wondered in to one of those fairy lands that his mother used to tell him about before he went to bed, the ones where you could get lost and end up spending your whole life wandering around trying to find your way back. The thought of being lost in here forever sent a chill down Merlin's spine, and he sped up his pace. He'd just take a quick peek where this trail led to, and then he'd head back again.

He wandering down it for what seemed like hours when it finally came to a halt. No pot of gold, no magical prize, the path just cut off at the base of an old tree. Disappointed that his adventure had led to nothing, he turned back homewards when he spied something on the ground. He bent over to pick it up, brushing the dirt off it, his mind churning with questions. How the hell did this get out here? In his hand, although slightly dirtier and with half broken off was the blue crayon he'd last seen a year ago when that prat Pendragon stole it from him.

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**A/N: So this is just a really short update to thank everyone who's been reviewing and subscribing, because I'm not going to be able to update for a while! Hopefully I'll get a slightly bigger chapter posted in the next couple of days, but sit tight after that cause it might be a bit of a wait, I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to write much when I'm overseas :) I'm a huge Freylin shipper so don't think that Freya won't be back, and I just couldn't resist bringing back the crayon :P Thanks again for all the support, and please review, it makes writing so much easier and more enjoyable! Enjoy!**

**Copyright: I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. **


	6. Chapter 6

Surely it couldn't be the same crayon. Not only had it been missing for a year, but it was sitting in the very middle of a very large and very old forest, and Merlin had somehow stumbled onto it. And yet, when he brushed the dirt away from the fading paper covering, he could have sworn he saw the faint _M.E._ his mother had marked on all his crayons. Maybe he really had wandered into the fairy land.

He was just starting to panic about in being lost forever when he was cut off by a startled voice overhead.

"_What the bloody hell are you doing here?_"

Arthur stared down at Merlin, who was standing at the bottom of _his_ tree with a slightly dazed expression on his face. There was definitely something seriously wrong with this kid. The dazed expression slid off Merlin's face and was chased by one of confusion, which eventually gave way to one of wonder.

"Is that _seriously_ a tree house?" Merlin gushed, ignoring the look of pure annoyance on Arthur's face. "Oh man that's so cool!" Before Arthur could protest Merlin had one hand on the ladder and a few moments later the smaller boy was pulling himself into the tree house. Arthur was fuming.

"You can't just come into _my_ tree house! It's private property! I order you right now-"

"Wooah you can see for miles Arthur!" Merlin interrupted, leaping past Arthur and over to the window. "Look I think I see a bird's nest! Gosh how'd you even find this place, it's seriously awesome though, cause me and Freya were just running through here, well she was running after me but I managed to shake her off my trail but diving into the bushes which was lucky cause you should have seen how hard she tackled Owain to the ground last week I mean I'm bigger than her but she's still a bit scary and man for a second there I freaked out cause I thought I was in one of those stories that my mum used to tell me about, but gosh this is so cool! But oh wow-"

Arthur stared, slightly dumbfounded, at the younger boy who continued to gush and ramble, none of which seemed to make any sense. He was worse than a four year old on a sugar high. It was a stark contrast to the quiet loner kid he saw occasionally around school or in maths class, where he buried his head in his books and seemed to break into a sweat every time he was made to answer a question. Now he was in Arthur's secret tree house, leaning out the window, rushing over to the other side, peering through the hole in the floor with a look of undisguised joy on his face. He seemed to calm down after a few minutes and Arthur saw a light blush creep into the younger boy's cheeks.

"Um, sorry" Merlin muttered, casting his eyes down to the floor, the smile still plastered to his face despite his embarrassment. "It's just I used to have a tree house just like this back home in Ealdor, and well I guess I got a bit excited, cause I mean I pretty much grew up in that tree house... so, um, sorry for barging in and all". Merlin's smile was infectious, and after a few moments Arthur couldn't stop himself from smiling too.

"Don't worry bout it you dolt" Arthur resigned. After all, the eerie quietness was starting to freak him out a little bit, and Merlin's chattering would surely liven the place up a bit. Merlin's face broke into a wide grin. He bounced back over to the window and resumed his chattering, Arthur picked up something about fairies and Ealdor.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad letting Merlin hang around for a little while. But only for today. Not a second longer. He knew his friends would give him a hard time for hanging around with the younger kid, but there's no way they'd find out about it and Arthur could always think up some plausible explanation if they got a whiff of it. Merlin was kneeling on the floor now, inspecting the rather large hole, still chattering away.

"Cause you see even though it'd be a pretty cool if we could make-"

"Woah, wait what?" Arthur interrupted. "There's no _we_ here. This is _my _tree house okay?" Merlin seemed to ignore him and continued prattling.

"- like a full on secret passage way or like a trap door or something, I always forget about stuff like that so maybe not cause then I'd fall down it which wouldn't be so awesome, but we could patch it up and everything and put down like a carpet and bring sleeping bags so we can sneak out at night and sleep here cause it's in the tree and wolves can't get us, wait are there wolves here? I dunno, but still we'd be safe up here anyway and no one could find us and-" Merlin paused for breath seemed to realise that Arthur wasn't quite following the conversation anymore. "Sorry" he mumbled, redness spreading to his cheeks again. "I get a bit excited about things like this". Arthur was still slightly stunned that someone so small and quiet could speak that much and that fast in such a short space of time.

"Right..." Arthur said, grateful to finally get a word in. "I said you can stay, but this doesn't make us buddies or anything, okay?" Merlin nodded enthusiastically. "And I've already made plans on how we're gonna do the place up". He slid the paper that he'd made sketches on over to Merlin, who studied them briefly, before scrunching up his nose.

"It's too boring", he complained. Arthur's jaw dropped.

"There's nothing wrong with those plans!", he exclaimed, studying them again furiously. Merlin laughed at him and stood up.

"It needs some colour! Like we can paint the roof with stars and a big sun and then trees on the walls and a castle and a dragon and-"

"Don't be such a giiiiirl Merlin", Arthur teased, although the thought did seem rather appealing. Merlin huffed at him and sat back down.

"Fine, we'll do it your way then, your _high_ness." They then spent the better part of an hour squabbling about how they were going to redo the old tree house and whether or not Merlin was a girl. They settled into an easy silence as Arthur fished out some packets of crisps from his backpack stash. Merlin finally broke the question he'd been dying to ask someone since forever.

"What's it like to have a dad?", the younger boy asked softy. Arthur nearly choked on his crisps.

How was he meant to know something like that? He knew what a dad was supposed to be like, but he also knew that Uther was nothing like that. Uther was the very opposite.

"Well... I don't really know" he admitted quietly. "I mean I know he cares for me in his own way, but sometimes I completely forget about him". Merlin was still looking up at him hopefully, so he continued. "And I know it sounds really bad, but... sometimes I wish that my mum was still around instead of him". Arthur felt his throat tighten and he blinked back the tears that were threatening to escape. "What's... what's it like to have a mum?" Merlin looked at him with a sad smile on his face.

"My mum's but, I dunno. She's had such a hard life that she works even harder to give me the best life possible. And like it was fine back in Ealdor cause I had everyone around me but now... she works so long that I barely see her and I don't know _anyone. _I just wish it could go back to how it used to be, you know?" If he hadn't of known better, he could have sworn that he could see tears welling up in the corners of Arthur's eyes. Merlin abruptly decided to change the subject.

"So um, why on earth did you decide to pull Valiant off me the other day?" Arthur sniffed quickly and coughed awkwardly.

"Oh, well, uh", why the hell had he done it? One second he'd been walking out of maths class, still half-asleep and with Mrs Hartlock's voice ringing in his ears, then he'd seen Valiant over the younger boy, fist in the air, and the next thing he knew he was slamming Valiant into the pavement. Arthur cleared his throat again. "Psh, well Sophia was _so_ checking me out and I know how she hates Valiant – thought it might help my chances with her". Merlin just rolled his eyes.

"You know you really are a prat Pendragon", he smirked. Arthur rolled his eyes this time and nudged Merlin playfully on the arm.

"At least I'm not a complete idiot, _Mer_lin". Merlin nudged Arthur back, probably a bit harder than he needed to, and grinned. Was he seriously getting along with Arthur Pendragon? He pushed that odd thought to the back of his mind.

The rest of the afternoon when surprisingly well, the two boys getting on amicably. Well except for the one time that a squabble escalated to an argument in which escalated to a headlock which escalated into Merlin nearly losing consciousness. But apart from that, Merlin found himself almost disappointed when the sun starting sinking into the horizon and they began making their way home. They managed to make it to the edge of the forest without getting themselves lost too many times, and they said their goodbyes with the dark silhouette of the forest cast upon the rows of houses. Arthur turned to Merlin almost shyly, running his hand through his hair.

"I know I said I'd only let you stick around for today... but I guess it wouldn't be a completely horrible thing if you showed up again". Merlin's face lit up and Arthur couldn't help but grin back.

"This is going to be the best holidays ever!" Merlin bounced. "You won't regret it!" With that Merlin waved goodbye and trotted off into the distance, humming happily to himself. Arthur rolled his eyes at the retreating figure – he was almost sure he'd live to regret this decision.

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**A/N: Sorry I've taken forever! Hopefully I'll be able to update more regularly soon :) Things are starting to pick up plot wise, so please let me know what you think! **

**Copyright: I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners.**


	7. Chapter 7

_It's funny just how much of a difference six weeks can make on people_, Arthur mused as they walked home together in the fading sunset. Six weeks of glorious sunshine and summer were behind them, and the autumn chill was just starting to creep into the air. But the thought of going home to his father after six weeks of freedom was even more chilling than the breeze. On the plus side though, it was Morgana's last night at home for a whole_ term_; so at least fate was trying to be kind to him in its roundabout way. Arthur was sure that his father would attempt to make this night as quiet as possible, although he knew he could count on Morgana for a final, desperate ground-breaking temper tantrum before she left. Arthur didn't really get why she was so upset, sure if he was going he'd miss his friends and everything, but she was getting to spend months away from their father in America of all places. It just made him all the more confused about girls.

His days of escaping away to the forest were now behind him and before him was his last year of primary. Back to Mrs Black's strict homework schedule and Mrs Hartlock's never-ending screeching. And the worst part was he wouldn't even be able to see Merlin until his father left, because the chances of sneaking away to take part in some seriously disapproved of "foolish shenanigans" were zero to nought. Although Arthur would never admit it aloud, the thought of not spending every day in the forest with Merlin tugged at his heart a little bit. _But not a lot or anything, _he corrected himself quickly, _cause it's not like we're actually friends or anything. The poor kid probably just has some sort of crazy obsession with me. _But if Arthur was to be totally honest with himself, he'd probably have to admit that he was the one who was slightly obsessed with Merlin. The little weirdo had bumbled his way into his life and Arthur sorta didn't want him to leave. These were the best summer holidays he'd ever had and he didn't want them to be over just yet.

After six weeks of hard work, the tree house was now a hangout to be proud of. They'd scavenged the local junkyard and Arthur's father's shed and piled all their materials into a "borrowed" shopping trolley. It had taken them the better part of that day just to get the shopping trolley to the tree house, Merlin deciding that he was in charge and ordering that it was Arthur's responsibility to haul the heavy trolley over rocks and tree roots. By the end of it, had he had any strength left Arthur would have hauled something very heavy onto Merlin instead. It took them almost two weeks to pull up the old and rotting planks and replace them with new ones, although as Arthur remarked several times a day, it would have gotten done much faster if Merlin hadn't again decided not to get his hands dirty. Merlin responded every time by saying that it would never get done if the brains behind the operation had a nail through his hand. Arthur responded every time by hitting the plank probably a little harder than he needed to. It got finished in the end, and although it may not have been the greatest display of craftsmanship, for a 9 and 10 year old it was enough. And at least then no one was at risk of falling out the bottom.

The next morning Arthur had shown up to find Merlin already there and covered almost from head to toe in blue paint. Apparently Arthur didn't have a choice in the decorations and grudgingly helped Merlin paint a blue sky on the ceiling. The task would have gotten done a lot faster if it hadn't of been for Arthur this time who decided that painting Merlin was far more tempting instead. Things quickly escalated from there and Mrs Black wasn't too happy when he returned home also covered head to toe in paint. She'd grounded him for a couple days after that, telling him that he should be trying to spend as much time with Morgana as he could instead of getting into mischief. But spending one day with Morgana was so terrifying, she still stalked around the house like a banshee ready to rip anyone's head off if eye contact was made, he decided to risk further punishment as slip out the window instead. He'd returned to the tree house to find that Merlin had wasted no time in his absence, and was halfway through painting a great castle on one side of the tree house. Although it had seemed a bit stupid when Merlin had talked about it, Arthur had to admit that he was just a little bit impressed. He'd offered to help Merlin with the painting but just got scoffed at, so he instead spent the day lying on the floor chatting while Merlin worked away.

It took another week for Merlin to finish his painting, and Arthur was slightly frightened by the fact that he was over halfway through the holidays. The days he spent on the floor watching Merlin bent over the wall, hands steady and forehead furrowed in concentration were so perfect he didn't want them to end. They'd spend their days talking about stupid things at first, most of the times who'd beat who in a fight (Arthur always said Superman and Merlin always said Harry Potter) or which girls had a crush on Arthur (Arthur said all of them and Merlin just gagged). Eventually Arthur got Merlin talking about where he grew up, and after an even longer time, about his dad.

"Mum doesn't like to talk about him", he admitted. "I think it's easier for her just to pretend he never existed".

"My dad's the same", Arthur said slowly. "I used to wonder why he hated me so much, but a couple of years ago, someone told me I looked just like her. I guess he just can't stand being reminded of her. He won't even tell me how she died."

"At least your mum met you", Merlin whispered. "My dad died before mum even knew she was pregnant. He had no idea I even existed. But mum never told me how he died". He swallowed hard; he'd never said this to anyone else before. "Sometimes I wonder if he's actually even dead. She's never even taken me to his grave. I think, maybe, he ran off because of me and she doesn't want to hurt me by telling me". Arthur stood up and wrapped his arm around the younger boy's should.

"Well that's his problem, isn't it? He should be sorry that he's missed out on having you as a son". Merlin smiled up at him through his tears.

"You really think so?" Arthur coughed awkwardly, taking a step back, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well I mean you're annoying as hell and all... but I guess so". Merlin seemed to brighten up again and went back to painting the golden dragon in the sky. "What is it with you and dragons anyway?" he asked, glad to be out of emotional topics. Merlin's eyes lit up at the word.

"I've just always loved them", he gushed. "And, no I'm not crazy or anything, but I've always had dreams about them for as long as I could remember". Arthur laughed.

"Let me guess, these wise old dragons told you that you have a great destiny or something?" Merlin screwed up his face in confusion.

"Yeah that's exactly what they say. How'd you know? Do they talk to you to?" Arthur just laughed again.

"Ah Merlin, if you weren't such an idiot I'd tell you to be a comedian. Destiny? Dragons? Good one, mate". Merlin just shrugged and ignored him. Let Arthur believe he was joking if he wanted to, but he knew he wasn't crazy. The funny thing was, ever since they'd started meeting at the tree house, the dreams had been coming on more often than usual. Like every night. The thought was pushed out of his mind as Arthur piped up again.

"Sophia's _totally _got a crush on me, don't you think?" Merlin just rolled his eyes and went back to painting.

By the time everything was done, the walls painted, the ladder rebuilt, curtains over the window, old rugs on the floor and spare sleeping bags in the corner, there was only really a week of holidays left to enjoy everything. Not that Arthur minded all that much, because he intended to squeeze every last minute out of it. He'd left early the previous afternoon, asking Mrs Black if she'd mind taking him and Morgana shopping for some last minute sibling bonding time. Of course Mrs Black hadn't been able to resist a "sweet and kindly" offer like that, and had forced Morgana out of her room and into the car. His plan obviously didn't actually involve any sibling bonding time, but before he could take off, pocket money in hand, towards the toy shop, Mrs Black quickly latched onto his shoulder and steered him after Morgana into one of her hideous clothes shops. His plan wasn't going quite as well as he'd expected; Merlin had better damn appreciate this. After visiting _five _clothes shops, Arthur finally convinced Mrs Black to let him go to the toy shop, and he sprinted off before she could change her mind. It didn't find him long to find what he was looking for inside the shop, although he let himself get distracted by the new Lego models a couple of times, and went off the find Morgana and Mrs Black. Unsurprisingly Morgana was still in the change rooms, but after he pleaded a headache, Mrs Black soon forced Morgana out and back into the car. Arthur smiled the whole way home, knowing the amount of fun he and Merlin would have with his new purchases tomorrow.

The next day arrived and Arthur was out his window bright and early before Mrs Black could continue on from yesterday's sibling bonding activity. Merlin was already there when he arrived, gnawing happily on an apple in the morning's early light. Merlin's eyes grew wider and a sly smile crept onto his face when he saw the bag Arthur had lugged up with him, and he quickly discarded the apple and leapt over to Arthur.

"Awww man you didn't! That's so cool!" He grabbed one of the items out of the bag and swung it through the air a few times. His eyes narrowed challengingly, obviously unaware of the fact that Arthur was much larger and older than himself. Arthur picked the other item up off the floor, more than ready for Merlin. In his hand was, although plastic, a rather fine golden sword with a roaring dragon at its hilt. In Merlin's hand was a smaller silver one, with an electric blue orb at the pommel. With a cry Merlin heaved the sword over his shoulder and ran towards Arthur, swinging the sword down towards Arthur's middle. Arthur jumped back and parried the blow, took another step to the side and swung his foot under Merlin's, knocking the smaller boy to the ground. Once Merlin had regained his breath, Arthur leant him a hand and pulled him to his feet.

"What the hell Arthur? Where'd you learn how to do that?" In all honesty, he wasn't really sure. One second Merlin had been running towards him, and the next thing he knew his body was moving on its own accord and then Merlin was on the ground.

"I... used to do Karate. They teach you stuff like that", he bluffed. Merlin didn't look convinced.

"Okay, but no pulling any more of those moves, okay?" Arthur nodded in agreement and Merlin smirked again. "Well then... bring it".

Despite Merlin being smaller and younger than him, Arthur had to admit he put up a good fight. Merlin had given him a couple good knocks that he was sure would leave bruises, but Arthur was having a hard time landing anything on him before he jumped out of the way. He was fast, Arthur would give him that. They continued fighting for most of the day, only stopping when they both looked like they were going to collapse from exhaustion. Arthur didn't know how those medieval knights could have done this every day. They both went home that night thoroughly beat and slept through to almost lunchtime the next day. When they arrived at the tree house, both were so sore that they decided a rest from sword fighting was probably a good plan.

They spent the rest of the week like that, occasionally bringing back the swords and beating each other far beyond the point of exhaustion, or otherwise roaming around the forest in search of wolves, or dragons in Merlin's case. Their last week passed by in a flash and before they knew it, they were at the edge of the forest on Sunday evening, desperately not wanting to go back to school the next day. Arthur turned to his friend, _okay so maybe we're sorta friends, _he admitted to himself, and gripped his shoulder in a manly, one-armed sort of hug.

"You know, we can do this again next holidays", he said to Merlin. "It's not even two months away, we'll be there before you know it". Merlin gave him a sad sort of smile and went to give him the other sword back. "No you keep it Merlin, just in case those dragons of yours turn out to be real", he teased. Merlin just scoffed at him and turned to walk away.

"Hey Arthur?" he called back just as Arthur was going to leave. "Are we buddies?" Arthur went to laugh at him and give him a hard time, but instead he smiled.

"Yeah Merlin, I think we are". Merlin's face lit up and gave Arthur a final wave before scampering off home. Despite what he thought six weeks ago, there hadn't been a single moment these holidays where Arthur had regretted letting Merlin stay.

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_**A/N:**__ Sorry for all the fluff - I couldn't help myself :P I was so happy to finally get around to writing this chapter, and I can't wait to get into the juicy stuff! __**Please**__ let me know what you think - the plots finally starting to pick up some pace and I'd appreciate any suggestions or reviews! They make my day :) Enjoy!_

___**Copyright:**__ I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. _


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_Long time, no update! Sorry about that :( This is only a really short chapter to make sure you all know I'm still alive, but if the story behaves itself and my brain continues functioning, I'll be updating soon! Hope you enjoy and it'd be great to hear from you :) _

**Copyright: **_I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. _

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The sound of Mrs Black's footsteps outside his door jolted Arthur awake. He threw himself out of bed and towards it, barricading himself inside. He knew it was immature, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and he'd do anything to delay the inevitable.

"Arthur I know you're in there so open up young man". Mrs Black's voice seemed especially shrill this morning; she'd probably already had a few battles with Morgana. If Arthur thought he was desperate, Morgana was probably planning to blow up America to avoid going. He'd already been woken up during the night by her horrible wailing and screaming, which had quickly subsided when she'd realised their father was just as stubborn as she was and wasn't going to budge. Once Uther Pendragon had made up his mind, no amount of tantrums would change it. Arthur, though glad to be rid of Morgana, did think his father was being harsh. Sending an eleven year old girl to a country she'd never been to, even if she was "following in the footsteps of her mother", was one of his father's more radical decisions.

Mrs Black's voice outside the door went deadly quiet. "I'm going to count to three young man, and by then the door had better be open. Otherwise, I'll get your father and you two can have a little chat. One... two..." Arthur liked to think he was brave, but the thought of facing his father this morning was enough to topple even the bravest of warriors. He swung open the door and put on his most innocent of smiles.

"Be out in a sec Mrs Black". She huffed and was about to order him towards the bathrooms before a loud crash came from Morgana's room and she quickly scurried off towards it. Thanking Morgana for the distraction he darted towards the bathroom, brushing his teeth and hair with lightning speed and sprinting back to his room to get changed. If he was fast, he might be able to escape the house without anyone noticing and without having to say goodbye to Morgana. Not because it would be too much of an emotional experience for a manly boy of 10, but because he was scared witless at the moment by his sister and he wouldn't put it past her to try and gouge his eyes out as a parting farewell.

After a few minutes of scampering around with one hand trying to put his pants on and the other hand shoving books into his bag, he fled his room and made his way through the house towards the front door. The house was eerily quiet, something Arthur should have picked up on. He'd nearly made it to the door, his hand outreached towards the handle when his father appeared in front of it, quickly bring to a halt any possible escape plans. Uther's eyes narrowed dangerously at his son.

"And where exactly do you think you're going boy?" Arthur gulped. His father wasn't a pleasant person to be around normally, but when he was in a bad mood...

"Ahh... wouldn't want to be late for the first day of school, would I? You know, so much learning to be done and, uh, books to, uh, be read-"

"If you thought for a second boy you'd get out of this house without saying goodbye to your sister then you'd better _think again_". Arthur cringed as Uther lowered his voice down to a harsh whisper, grabbing him by his backpack and hauling him into the sitting room. Arthur watched glumly as the door retreated away from his view and he was deposited rather harshly by his father on the couch opposite Morgana.

As Arthur brushed his messy blonde hair away from his eyes, he had to admit he was surprised by Morgana's appearance. He supposed he should have expected this from the little princess though. Although she'd been stalking around the house for the past few weeks looking like death itself, she'd made herself quite presentable this morning. Her long dark hair was bound into a neat plait running down her back and Arthur almost could barely tell she'd spent half the night crying. She was dressed in the uniform of Meredor Academy, one of America's most elite boarding schools for girls and Arthur was sure she wouldn't look out of place with all the other snobs. The uniform itself oozed wealth; a close fitting blood red blouse tucked into knee length red and black checked skirt and underneath a heavy black felt blazer. He couldn't stop himself from staring at the school's curious insignia embroidered onto the blazer; it was a twisted, twirling, blood red tree and Arthur couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen it somewhere before. His sister was perched on her seat, nose stuck high in the air and eyes flashing dangerously. In his mind's eye he could almost picture her sitting on a throne being crowned in some big great medieval castle, the same disdainful smirk on her face - _oh great, I'm starting to sound like Merlin now._ Arthur could tell she knew she wasn't going to win this battle, but he could also tell she'd go down with her dignity.

The relationship between his father and sister had always been tense, possibly even tenser than his. They ranged between two extremes: half the time Uther was spoiling her rotten and the other half he looked as though he was ready to throw her out. It seemed as though Morgana's most recent rebellion, a not very well thought out attempt at running away, had pushed their father over the line. After a particularly stormy argument his father had gone into her room to apologise, that alone being a rare occurrence, only to find her window open and backpack missing. If the argument had been stormy, then the aftermath was Armageddon. Arthur wouldn't have been surprised if his father had either spontaneously combusted or gone all Terminator style and laser beamed someone into oblivion. He was a pretty scary man.

As she turned her head and caught his eye, he could see that she most definitely inherited some of that scariness. Her steely green eyes bored right into him, as challenging and arrogant as ever. Arthur tried to hide the shiver that ran down his spine. For a second he though she was trying to tell him something in that gaze, but instead she cast her eyes down to the floor and Arthur almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"I hope you enjoy this year Arthur", she murmured almost under her breath, "enjoy it while you still can". Arthur's eyes widened in confusion, and he cast a glance towards his father.

"What does she mean father?" Uther didn't meet his eyes but instead glared at his daughter with eyes as steely as hers.

"Say goodbye Arthur, you're going to be late for school".

"But what-"

"Arthur." He bit back the question and turned back to his sister.

"Um, well, have a good time at boarding school, and, um, loveyoubye", he rushed. He swore he could almost see the beginnings of a smile on her lips, which was more than he'd seen from her in months. In a quick and awkward motion he threw an arm around her shoulders and fled the room.

Once he was clear of the house he leant against a railing, pondering over what his sister had said. _Enjoy it while you still can... _what did it mean? Of course it wouldn't be completely out of character for her to say something especially cryptic just to mess with his head, but still he couldn't shake the feeling that she knew something he didn't, and something his father didn't want him to know.

Maybe Uther was the Terminator after all? Arthur snorted at his own joke and shook the thought from his mind, starting to walk very slowly in the direction of school. He wasn't sure if he could survive both his father and another year of school.


	9. Chapter 9

"Merlin if you eat that cereal any faster you'll be inhaling it", his mother remarked. Merlin just nodded and continued shovelling spoonful after spoonful into his mouth. It was the first day of school today and there was no way he was going to be late. He'd made sure last night that his bag was packed and he'd already double checked it twice this morning in case anything had mysteriously gone missing in the night. Knowing his luck, Merlin didn't doubt the possibility. The poor old bag was stuffed like a Christmas hen with new stationery and workbooks, all nice and shiny and ready for the new school year. Merlin often wondered if it was weird to be this excited, hadn't he always hated school? But it was his second last year of primary school, he shrugged, which meant he was practically a big kid now. Plus, he finally had an actual buddy. And Arthur Pendragon of all people! Merlin sure didn't see that one coming.

He piled the last spoonful into his mouth, drained the milk from the bottom and leapt out of seat, diving for his bag.

"Wait just a minute Merlin", his mother called from the kitchen. Merlin huffed impatiently and shuffled back in.

"Muuum I'm gonna be late! I can't be late for the first day of school!" he whined. His mother smiled knowingly, and almost playful glint in her eye. Hunith had settled in well to this new town and new life, but until now she'd been worried her son wasn't faring as well.

"Why Merlin, I've never seen you so excited about school before", she said slyly while buttering his sandwich for lunch. "In fact, I haven't seen you this excited in a long time. What's changed so suddenly?" Merlin cursed his mother's super power ability - he swore she'd been able to read him like a book since the day he was born.

"Nothing mum, just, school and all. I like school you know. Always have. Nothing special." He went to grab an apple from the fridge to speed up the lunch packing process and get out of here.

"Oh okay then", she replied, hiding a smirk from her son. "Because for a second there, I thought it might have been a girl you were so desperate to see". Merlin blushed bright red and fumbled the apple, dropping it to the ground where it rolled under the table.

"Huh? No girls mum, you know, cooties and stuff. Yuck". He had to admit the question had taken him by surprise; why was he so excited to get to school? Since when didn't he hate school? Maybe he'd fallen out of bed last night and hit his head. And yet even though he tried to convince himself of his newly remembered hatred for school, he couldn't stop his heart from beating that little bit faster than usual or that weird tugging sensation that kept pulling him in the direction of the door.

"Right then sweetheart, if you say so". Hunith couldn't help but smile. She knew her son well probably better than she knew herself and she was certain Merlin had a crush, whether he knew it or not. _First crush,_ she thought, a dreamy smile coming to her lips. But then her memories ventured a bit too far and she snapped back to reality as the striking pain in her heart that came with them struck. She shook her head and pushed them to the back of her mind, to the past, where they belonged. She glanced at the clock as she finished slicing the sandwich. "Uh Merlin, exactly how early did you want to be?"

"Well seeing as I _don't _have a crush to meet and I _don't _like school all that much, not _too_ early I guess", he huffed, annoyed his mother would think of a silly thing like a crush. But now that he thought about it, everybody else had a crush, why didn't he? Well, being the least popular kid in school probably didn't give him a lot of options crush wise, but still - what if there was something wrong with him? Sure he liked girls, well he liked them when they weren't chasing him through a forest at high speeds intent on a kiss, but he'd never really like liked anyone. Maybe he could like Freya? She seemed nice enough. _Okay then, _Merlin decided. _I guess I have to like Freya now. _

"You do know then that school starts in 20 minutes then?" Merlin glanced at the clock in disbelief. Surely the time hadn't gone that fast? Merlin's sudden hatred for school was forgotten again.

"_Muuuuum _hurry up!" he rushed, diving under the table and fumbling around for the runaway apple. He knocked his head a few times trying to locate it before leaping back up victoriously, apple in hand, swiping his sandwich off the counter and shoving both into the already overflowing bag. He then turned on his mother, trying to push her with all the strength of a nine year old could muster towards the door. Hunith instead decided it was an ideal time to play dead, dropping herself onto the floor and nearly squashing Merlin in the process. _Mothers! _Merlin groaned, trying to force her weight off him.

"What was that Merlin? Did I hear you say hurry up? Sorry, must have fallen asleep", she giggled. _It's most definitely a girl, _she thought. Merlin managed to wriggle out from underneath and set to work dragging her out the door by her feet if need be. Sometimes he wondered who was the most childish in this relationship.

"Mum, _pleeeease_?" he begged, getting desperate now. He couldn't be late! She finally gave in, getting up off the floor and grabbing the car keys from the kitchen bench.

"Come on Merlin we're going to be late!" she laughed. Merlin just stared at her in mild disbelief; she definitely was the child out of them today.

Merlin bounced in his seat the whole way to school, nervous butterflies having a small party in his stomach. He could just tell this was going to be a good year. He had a new friend, he'd be in a new class, and he'd try really hard in school. Everything was going to be just great.

Or so he thought.

* * *

**A/N: **_Dun dun duuuun! Plot twist ahead :P Thanks for everyone who's been reading, especially everyone who's been uber-supportive, it means so much to me! And just in case anyone didn't get the reference about the insignia on Morgana's blazer last chapter, does this ring a bell? **merlin . wikia wiki / Rowan _ Tree **(remove the spaces). Sorry this is such a short chapter, these are kinda just fillers until I start the good stuff :P Longer chapter in a couple days I promise!_

_**Disclaimer:** I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to it's respective owners!  
_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **_Well it took a bit longer than expected, but here it is! I'll try to make one more post soon, but after that I'm not going to be able to post for a couple of weeks :( Please put up with me. And please don't kill me after this chapter. It broke my heart to write. _

* * *

Arthur could have sworn that it usually took him longer than this to walk to school. _Maybe I could do a lap around the block?_ Well if it meant delaying school for another ten minutes, he was up for it. He pulled his hat down over his eyes and went to head in the other direction before he heard his name in the distance.

"_Arthur! Over here buddy!" _Arthur sighed in disappointment. Now he had no choice but to go to school. He turned back to find Lance leaning over the fence, waving at him, his permanently fixed dopey grin on his face as always. Arthur couldn't help but smile. He might hate school, but at least the people made it worthwhile. And he had to admit, he did miss Lance heaps. Six weeks without your best mate was tough. So tough he had resort to hanging out with Merlin. Well it wasn't like he begged Merlin to hang around him or anything; he couldn't get rid of the kid even if he tried. _Don't pretend like you didn't have a good time though, _he scolded himself. He and Merlin might have been the least two likely people in the whole school to ever be friends, but it was fun while it lasted. _Because it's definitely over now, right? _

They'd had fun, but Arthur had to face to truth. Merlin was the least popular kid in school, a year younger than him and a little bit weird... he was Arthur Pendragon, most popular boy in sixth grade. Who was he kidding, thinking they could ever be friends? There's no way his friends would ever have been able to get along with someone like Merlin, things just didn't work that way. And after the events of last term, the last thing Arthur wanted was Merlin drawing more of Valiant's attention. He sighed; some things just couldn't happen. And yet even though he knew he'd be surrounded by his best mates and gaggles of girls, he couldn't help but feel a little bit sad. He'd never admit it, but deep down he knew there was a part of him that wasn't going to let Merlin out of his life.

He jogged over to where Lance was, giving him a slap on the shoulder in greeting and promptly jumping the fence. They walked slowly together in the direction of the classroom, neither too worried about tardiness.

"So how on earth did you manage to survive the holidays without me?" Lance joked. Arthur playfully pushed him away.

"I managed just fine, thank you. Don't start getting too big of a head". Lance just grinned his dopey grin. "So how was your trip?"

"Good, I guess. Ireland's very... green". Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Green? Well I guess that's good to know."

"But seriously, whatd'ya do the whole time? Nooo one was here, it would have been so boring". Arthur groaned.

"God, there was nothing to do for six weeks! I had to spend time with Morgana! It was pretty bad". They both shuddered at the thought of spending time with his sister, or as they called her, The Wicked Witch.

"So she didn't turn you into a toad or anything?" Lance joked.

"Nope, and now she's off to America and I don't have to see her for a whole term", Arthur said smugly.

"_America? _What's she doing there?"

"Well, our father decided that she needed more discipline. Really I just think he was sick of her disagreeing with him. So she's off to our mum's old school, Meredor Academy or something snobby like that".

"Wait, so does that mean... oh never mind. Stupid question." Arthur turned a confused face to his best mate.

"Whatd'ya mean? Tell me."

"Oh no, it's nothing, just y'know. Brain, silly thing. Nothing really.

"_Lance. _Tell me". Lance looked around awkwardly for something that could save him.

"Well... I dunno, it's probably just nonsense, but if he sent Morgana away at the end of primary... does that mean he'll send you away too?" Arthur just stared at him blankly. He hadn't even thought about that. His father wouldn't do that to him, would he? His heart jolted a bit as he remembered Morgana's last words to him: _I hope you enjoy this year Arthur, enjoy it while you still can._

He couldn't even imagine leaving everything behind. Not being able to see all his friends, his school, Mrs Black... _and Merlin, _a little voice inside him whispered. _But c'mon,_ he told himself, _father wouldn't do that. Would he? _

He pushed it out of his mind - of course his father wouldn't do that. What a stupid idea.

"Nah mate, father wouldn't do that. You'll be stuck with me for a while longer yet". Lance laughed and punched his arm lightly.

"Come on, we'd better head to class then", Lance said mournfully. Arthur grimaced.

"Okay, let's get this over and done with".

* * *

The second the car stopped, Merlin flung his door open, gave his mum and quick peck on the cheek and leapt out at full speed. He hit the ground running, making his way as fast as he could towards his new classroom. He still hadn't quite figured out why he was so excited, but he wasn't going to let that ruin his great mood. It was a beautiful summer day, the sun was out, the sky was blue and he was ready to learn, why shouldn't he be excited? The bell rang just as he reached his classroom and he managed to jump in at the end of the crowd slowly shuffling inside. He got a few weird looks from his fellow classmates as he bounced up and down in excitement, but he just gave them his biggest grin in return. No one was going to ruin his day.

He was glad to see that Freya was sitting by herself towards the back of the classroom, and she gave him a smile and a wave as their eyes met. He was in a class with one of his best friends! The day was just getting better and better. He plopped himself on the desk next to her, his bag landing on the floor with a thump. A few of his shiny new things fell out of his bag and onto the ground, which was straining at the seams and desperate to be undone and rummaged through. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet and desperate to do something when his new teacher walked in.

The whole class stared in immediate adoration as the young woman walked into the room, a bright smile on her face and a clever glint in her eye. She had a strong, proud face with long blonde hair that was tied into a neat braid down her back. She wore a smart black blazer over a white tee, with bright red jeans and leather boots. . She had a curious necklace on that Merlin at first thought was a cross, but realised a moment later was an intricately designed, beautiful silver dagger. Every inch of her oozed a confidence and intelligence that Merlin was sure would keep the class in line. She beamed once more around the classroom who she held in rapt attention, waiting for her to say something.

"Well good morning everyone", she spoke in a rich, but sweet voice. "I can just imagine how excited you are to be back at school", she chuckled, which earned a few groans and eye rolls, "but I know this will be a good year. My name is Miss White, and I'm going to be your new teacher." Merlin could feel the rest of the class perking up, keen to make a good impression on the young woman.

"Well then", she said, still with a bright smile of her face, "we'd better get started, shall we?"

* * *

The bell for morning tea couldn't have come sooner for Arthur. By some cruel twist of fate, he'd ended up in Mrs Hartlock's class _again,_ which meant another year of enduring her ear-splitting screeching about stuff he really didn't care about. At least he had most of his friends in his class this year, so his chance of survival was significantly improved.

It seemed though that one minute the class was rushing out the door towards freedom and the next minute they were inside again. _That wasn't even a break, _Arthur thought, bracing himself for the inevitable moment when Mrs Hartlock would start speaking again.

"Now children", rang the shrill voice of Mrs Hartlock, "I know it's only Monday morning but we had better start on our maths syllabus". Arthur let his head drop down onto the desk in dismay. He'd barely made it a couple of hours and the old bat wanted to start maths _already_? This day just kept getting better and better. Arthur dragged out his textbook and opened it to the page Mrs Hartlock had shrieked at them and then let himself zone out. As he let his mind wander Mrs Hartlock's voice seemed to dull down a bit, the room got a bit fuzzy, and all the other noises were nicely muffled out until-

"Sorry I'm late!" The voice cut clear through Arthur's daydream and he sat up straight in his seat. He turned towards the source of the noise to find the young black haired boy standing in the doorway. His dorky grin seemed a little larger than usual and he was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet. Arthur found himself trying to catch Merlin's eye to give him a smile when he heard the snickering from around the room. What was he doing? He couldn't look like he was friends with Merlin around his other friends, that'd be disastrous.

"Children!" Mrs Hartlock's voice cut through the snide whispering. "Thank you. For those who do not know, this is Merlin. Merlin will be joining our class this year for maths instead of his year 5 class. Now make him feel welcome".

"Good morning Merlin", sounded the class in response. Although Merlin obviously didn't pick up on it, his smile was bigger than ever, Arthur winced as he heard the mocking tone in his classmate's voices. He cast his eyes down suddenly as he saw Merlin look in his direction. _Please don't come over here, please don't come over here._

"Merlin, please find a seat so we can get started". Arthur's heart stopped when he realised there was a spare seat next to him. This wasn't good. This was very, very bad. If Merlin sat next to him Arthur would be expected to make fun of him, to push his books off the table, to say rude things about him after class - and Arthur wasn't quite sure if he could do that. He knew he could ignore Merlin, but he couldn't go out of his way to be mean to him. Not after he'd been such a good friend. But Arthur's reputation was at stake. He _couldn't_ let people think he was friends with Merlin. He'd be a laughing stock. _It's him or me, _Arthur thought.

He tensed as he felt Merlin come up beside him. Arthur refused to look up. He refused to see the hurt in Merlin's eyes.

"Hey Arthur! Do you, uh, mind if I sit next to you?" Arthur could feel the whole class watching him, the room was dead silent. _It's him or me, _he repeated again, _it's him or me. _He took a deep breath.

"Uh, no?" he scoffed, wincing at his own words. "This seat's saved. Looks like you're gonna have to find someone else". Arthur could have sworn he heard a small little intake of breath come from the other boy. _I'm so sorry Merlin, _he tried to tell him. _I'm so sorry, please forgive me._ Merlin didn't reply. Arthur still refused to look up. He just wanted to give himself a good bash on the head with something very large and very heavy. He knew Merlin was still standing there, confused and in pain. _Please forgive me. _"Why are you still standing here?" _I'm so sorry. _"I said it's taken". _Please forgive me. _

When he heard Merlin shuffle away from him, he raised his eyes slowly to see Merlin at the very front of the class, sitting at a lonely desk by himself. He didn't lower his eyes quick enough when Merlin turned around one final time to where Arthur was sitting. The look in Merlin's eyes sent shivers through Arthur's body. It wasn't just hatred, although there was plenty of that; his electric blue eyes were filled with so much pain Arthur had to cringe away.

_You IDIOT. _

* * *

**A/N:** _Ahhh why am I writing this? Please don't kill me over it... but feel free to write a review about your poor feels. Oh so many feels. Aaaand it's gonna get worse, so hang on for the ride. _

**Disclaimer:** _I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. _


	11. Chapter 11

The moment the bell rang Merlin whisked his books off the desk and lunged towards the door, keeping his head down. He wouldn't let anyone see his red eyes, especially not Arthur bloody Pendragon. The bloody stupid _ass_ of an idiot would probably get some sort of kick out of it. It'd become his new game, "let's all make friends with Merlin and then make him look like an idiot in front of the entire class". _Why didn't I see this coming?_ Arthur probably had this all planned out from the start. He'd probably spent hours with his _real _"buddies" planning just how he was gonna trick Merlin. He'd probably be having a good old laugh with them now, celebrating their success. But Merlin wasn't going to give them the satisfaction; he wasn't going to let them see him cry.

Steering around the school half-blind from the tears threatening to spill out wasn't the best plan, and he was nearly knocked over a few times by people who didn't get out of his way. But he muttered a brief apology and kept his head down, finally locating the toilets. He found the cubicle at the very end, the dirtiest one that no one ever came into, and slammed the door close, locking himself inside. With a small shudder, he let himself go, hot tears streaming silently down his face. _Why would he do this to me, _he sobbed, _what have I ever done to him? I thought we were buddies! _ He could barely contain the rage inside him, the rage that made him want to cry and scream and knock down this door and go punch Arthur in his stupid little gloating face and tell him exactly what he thought of him. Exactly how _cruel _he'd been. Merlin would rather have had Valiant punch him, push him, knock him down a thousand times than have Arthur do what he just did. Valiant was dumb and intimidated by Merlin, and they both knew it. But what Arthur did was a thousand times worse than any physical embarrassment Valiant could come up with. Arthur _planned _to make Merlin like him, to make Merlin think that he had an _actual friend_, just to laugh in his face.

_I'm never going to speak to him again, _Merlin swore, tears still stinging in his eyes and sobs racking his chest, _never, ever again. _

* * *

"Gaaargh!" Arthur slammed his bedroom door closed with a shout, throwing his bag across the room and looking for something to hit. He turned on his innocent looking bed and gave it a fierce kick, a small cry of pain escaping his mouth as his foot connected with the wooden frame. Tears sprung to his eyes but he wiped them away quickly, letting loose another swift kick to the mattress this time. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!_

No matter where he looked he couldn't get the image of Merlin's face out of his mind. That little face he'd seen almost every day for the last six weeks, each time lit up with the pure joy of being alive, that little face he'd crushed into an expression of such pure misery. He had to fix this. _But how? _If he wanted to keep his old friends he couldn't be friends with Merlin, but if he wanted to be friends with Merlin he couldn't keep his old friends. But the look in his eyes - he had to do something. He couldn't live with himself otherwise.

He was about to unleash another round of abuse on the bed when he heard a soft knock on his door.

"Arthur?", asked the soft voice of Mrs Black. "May I come in?" Arthur sighed and went to open the door, furiously wiping away his tears. He opened the door meekly to see his nanny's kind face bunched into a worried expression. He went to sit on the bed, where she joined him.

"Something you need to get off your chest?"

"I... well...", Arthur stumbled, trying to form a coherent sentence. "I did something... something really stupid... and I think I may have lost a really good friend", he whispered, choking back the tears. Mrs Black just held him tight and let him cry as the tears starting flowing freely down his face.

"You know Arthur, you can't take back things that have been said. True, it might be too late, but it might not be. You'll never know if he'll forgive you until you try. And if you feel so strongly about him, I'm sure he feels just as strongly about you". Arthur looked up at her through teary eyes.

"You really think so?" he sniffed.

"I really do", she smiled.

* * *

**A/N: **_Sorry this was such a short chapter but I'm going to be internet-less for a couple of weeks and I wanted to get something put up at least. It might be a while till you hear from me again, so I'm really sorry to leave you with a cliff-hanger Bold and the Beautiful would be proud of. Hope you enjoyed it and a big thank you to all the beautiful people who reviewed and favourited, it means so much to me! See you guys soon :) _

**Disclaimer:** _I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to it's respective owners. _


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **_I'm alive! And here's the new chapter, enjoy :) _

**Disclaimer:** _I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners._

* * *

Merlin tossed and turned in bed. It had been hours since he'd gotten back from school and he kept telling himself he should have gotten over it by now. It wasn't like he hadn't been hurt before, and it certainly wasn't like Arthur Pendragon had actually meant anything to him. He was just another stuck up ass who cared for no-one but himself. He should have seen it coming, he should have seen it from the minute he walked into that day care centre a year ago and he should have stuck clear of Pendragon. But he hadn't. He'd blundered right in and allowed himself to believe that they could actually be friends. What a joke. He'd make that mistake and he'd never make it again. He swore from this moment on, he'd never see, want to see or even think about Arthur Pendragon. He was dead to Merlin, dead and buried deep, deep in the ground.

But as he laid his head back down on his tear stained pillow, he couldn't shake the picture of Arthur's face from his mind. No matter where he looked, or how hard he tried to burn the image from his mind's eye, the face still swam there, as gloating as it had been on the day of the fateful crayon incident. Had it really been a year? Shrugging himself out of bed, Merlin plodded over to his desk where a pile of pens and pencils laid strewn in a not so organised fashion. He sifted through the pile until he felt his fingers glide over the waxy surface of his desired object. Grasping it tightly in his palm he made his way back to the bed, pondering over all the memories that were brought back by this little nubby half of what was once a crayon. He still couldn't believe he'd found it again, it seemed almost too lucky to be true. How could something he'd lost a year ago suddenly turn up at the base of a tree in the very middle of a very large forest? Unless magic really was involved, the only other answer he could think of was that Arthur had kept it this whole time, and for whatever reason had left it or dropped it there. But why had he kept it? As some sort of weird trophy of successfully making Merlin crack? Or maybe he'd just put it in his backpack and forgotten about it. But still, a year? It was the only plausible solution though, he couldn't think of anything else. And it wasn't like Arthur was a neat freak or anything, he probably had junk from the dawn of time lodged somewhere in the depths of his backpack. He rubbed the crayon with his finger one last time before throwing it back in the direction of his desk, hoping it would land somewhere safe.

He flipped his pillow onto the side where there wasn't any tears and flumped down onto it, willing himself to go to sleep quickly. But sleep didn't come, the clogs in Merlin's brain where still whirring too fast for him to even think about going to sleep. Instead he flipped over in frustration, hoping that this side of the bed would offer the respite he wanted. But as his eyes flickered to the window just above his bed, he groaned in annoyance as Arthur's face appeared once again in his mind's eye. He shut his eyes firmly, willing the image away, only to open them again to find that the same image was still there. He went to flip over to the other side of the bed when he felt his brain click into place and something in his stomach drop. That face outside his window looked way too real to be part of his imagination, no matter how active it could be at times. And then a fist joined the unwanted face through the window pane and lightly rapping on the glass. Merlin couldn't be dreaming all of this up. And if he was, he should probably be locked up in a mental ward. If he wasn't dreaming then, it meant that Arthur Pendragon was standing outside his house, outside his bedroom window at - Merlin whipped his head around to his alarm clock - nine o'clock at night! What the bloody hell was wrong with him? Hadn't he made himself perfectly clear before?

Part of Merlin was dead set on ignoring the boy outside his window, calling out to his mother and getting her to call Arthur's father before he managed to slink home. _Or maybe she could call the police, _he thought slyly. The thought of them dragging Arthur away in hand cuffs and locking him in a dirty cell like they did in the cop shows on tv did sounds rather appealing to Merlin. But in the split second he had to make the decision, he went with the other part of himself, and meekly climbed out of bed and pulled opened the window. The warm breeze blew over his face pleasantly but the sight of Arthur's face just inches away from his own felt like a punch to his gut. He drew a deep breath and summoned his courage, trying to put on the bravest face he had. Instead, he managed more of a squeak.

"What d-do you th-think you're doing here Pendragon?" he stuttered. At least Arthur's face wasn't gloating, and if he'd been a bit more stupid, Merlin might actually have thought he looked upset. _He's probably here for round two of the Let's Make Merlin Look Stupid game though, _he thought.

"I'm here to say sorry", the older boy replied, casting his eyes down apologetically. This delivered another punch to Merlin's stomach. He wasn't sure it could take much more abuse. Never had he thought, even in his wildest dreams, that Arthur would actually come apologise to him. Merlin wouldn't have been surprised if his jaw was hanging down at his knees in astonishment. "I know I acted like a jerk Merlin. I'm really sorry".

Merlin wasn't quite sure what to say. But before he could even think of anything to say, his body acted on its own accord. In the back of his mind he felt his arm rising up, cocking itself back behind his head and then slamming itself into Arthur's face. Only Arthur's widened eyes a second before impact alerted Merlin to what he was doing, but by that time, it was already too late. His fist connected with Arthur's face and the older boy went stumbling backwards, landing flat down on the grass outside his window. Merlin's knuckles stung from the impact, but deep down he felt good. It had relieved the tension he'd been carrying since the incident and it felt like an elephant had lifted off his shoulders. Arthur seemed to be a little shocked by Merlin's reaction, but dusted himself off and returned, more warily this time, to the window. When he saw that Merlin was even more shocked about what he'd done he let out a small chuckle, raising a hand gingerly to the slightly tender spot of flesh just below his eyes. He prodded it a little bit and winced slightly, almost sure that there would be a bruise there tomorrow. He let out another soft chuckle.

"Wow, didn't think you had it in you Merlin".

"Sorry Arthur".

"It's okay", he sighed. "I guess I probably deserved that".

"Yeah, you kinda did". Arthur chuckled again.

"I really do mean it though. I am really sorry". Merlin looked into Arthur's eyes, which were pleading for forgiveness, and just couldn't believe he could be lying. _Maybe he'd just had a bad day, _Merlin reckoned with himself. _I should accept his apology. _He felt a slight niggling in the back of his mind, something that told him he shouldn't trust Arthur this soon, that he shouldn't let himself get hurt again this easily. But Merlin pushed all those thoughts away, because who knows, it could all have been a misunderstanding that Merlin had blown out of proportion. People always say that everything seems worse looking back on it. And his mother has always said he had a flair for over exaggeration. But Arthur had come to apologise anyway! This definitely meant he wanted to be buddies again. How could Merlin say no? He let a big grin erupt over his face and he leant out the window to embrace Arthur, who winced as Merlin's shoulder awkwardly connected with his bruised eye.

"Of course I forgive you!" Merlin couldn't believe how lucky he'd been – how could he get through another year without a friend? And because Arthur was popular, if he hung around him everyone else would think he was popular as well, and then he'd be able to invite more people than just his mother and Uncle Gaius to his birthday party! Life was all slotting into place.

Arthur gently removed himself from Merlin's embrace, coughing awkwardly.

"So everything's all good between us?" Merlin nodded eagerly in response to Arthur's question. "Okay... because that's great! I'm glad we're cool." He ran his hand through his hair nervously, not quite sure how to bring this up to the younger boy. He wouldn't take offense to it, would he? "Well... Merlin, it's just... I really do like being friends with you! Don't get me wrong. It's just that... I'm from a different group than you, and... I, well I don't really think you'd fit in with them. And you're just not the sort of person that wants to, uh... attract attention to themselves".

Through Arthur's speech the grin that had been so firmly fixed had slowly melted away into a stony expression that Arthur couldn't decipher. It gave him chills.

"So we're all good right?" He chuckled nervously, trying to remove that expression from Merlin's face. "We're still friends... but just not at school. That's not so bad, right?" The look in Merlin's eyes had gone from icy to pure, undiluted hatred, and Arthur could swear the temperature had dropped a few degrees in the last minute. The air seemed to hang tightly around them, and he felt like someone was squeezing the breath out of his lungs. He tried a small laugh again. "Merlin? Buddy? We all good?"

"Get out of here. Now". He went to slam the window in Arthur's face but Arthur caught it and pushed it back open.

"No Merlin, I'm not leaving until you say we're okay!"

"_OKAY?_" Merlin asked in a shrill whisper. "You want to know if we're _okay_? You just told me that you're too embarrassed to be seen with me at school, but it's okay for us to be friends when no one else is around. Well you know what? I'd rather I didn't have a friend than have a false one".

"Merlin! Let me explain", Arthur pleaded. "It's just, you know, Valiant and stuff. They'd give you an even harder time".

"Thank you for being so concerned".

"Merlin I'm not making it up! He'd tease you, and he'd tease me -"

"I think we just got to the real reason there. I'm not cool enough, am I? So I'd drag you down. That seems much fairer".

"No really Merlin, I'm trying to protect you!"

"Well you're doing a great job at it aren't you!"

"Fine! You're right! Is that want you want to hear? You're not cool enough. You think you've got it tough now, well if you start pretending to be cool then it's gonna get ten times worse. I don't care though. I want to be friends with you. I just don't want to leave my old friends because of it".

"Just go away Arthur. You've made yourself clear. If you're not gonna stand beside me always, you're not gonna stand beside me when you want to".

"But Merlin, please -"

"_Get. Lost. Arthur",_ Merlin hissed through his teeth. He ignored the pain in Arthur's eyes and slammed the window shut, ripping the blinds closed as well.

Arthur just stared at the window in horror and confusion. What had he done? He'd just wanted to make everything better, to be friends again with Merlin, to protect him from the other kids who he knew would give him a hard time.

He walked slowly back along the path that he and Merlin had taken so many times in their daily food raids over the holidays. There had never been a time when they hadn't been laughing, and there never was a time Arthur could remember laughing so much. Merlin just had this energy around him that made him want to be happy, want to laugh, want to be around him. And know he'd mucked everything up forever. Mrs Black had been right. Sometimes, it's just too late. Arthur sighed as he turned the corner, kicking a lonely fallen branch back into a garden bed. The streetlights that marked his way home cast an even more solemn glare on the world, and Arthur let a small tear escape. He quickly wiped it away; what would his father say if he saw him crying about a boy he'd only really known for six weeks? Idiot.

But whether Merlin accepted it or not, he was doing the best thing for them both, he had to keep telling himself that. They'd become friends by some random, weird stroke of luck, and without that stroke they'd never have even spoken to each other. They weren't meant to be friends. If they were meant to, then everything would have worked out. But they were just too different, two different people from completely different worlds and their lives just didn't mesh.

Arthur had to keep repeating that to himself the whole way home.

Neither of them slept that night.

* * *

**A/N:** _Sorry about all the angst... big surprise next chapter ;)_


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** _Well to be fair, I did warn you... _

**Disclaimer:** _I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to it's respective owners._

* * *

_2007_

_Nine Years Later_

_United States Military Academy_

Arthur Pendragon ran his hand through his short, cropped hair and took a final look around the sparse room that had been his home for the better part of nine years. Now void of all his possessions, the room looked alien to him. He thumped on the wall that he shared with his closest roommate and Leon's familiar face soon appeared in the doorway. "You all ready to go?" Leon gave him an eager nod in response and headed back into his room, appearing moments later as he dragged his two large khaki duffel bags out in the hallway. Arthur stared down at his own morosely, wanting to delay the inevitable as long as possible. The universe seemed to answer his unspoken plea as a distraction, in the form of Gwaine, strode arrogantly through his doorway and flopped down on his bed. The American's wild brown hair was far past regulation length; he'd always had a knack for charming the little old lady that was meant to shear off their hair once a month. And now that they'd graduated, he'd sworn to them that he wasn't cutting his hair or shaving for a year.

"Jesus, I can't wait to get out of here", he moaned as he stretched himself across the length of his bed. Gwaine had always been a casual sort of person, even in the most serious of situations, and now that they technically had nothing to do anymore, Arthur wasn't sure he'd ever get out of bed. In fact, that was half the reason why he'd invited him and a few other mates to come back to England with him for the summer. Well that, and it meant he didn't have to face the family reunion by himself. His father had taken the entire summer holidays off, a miraculous event that Arthur didn't know was humanly possible, and he'd also "convinced", but more likely forced, Morgana to come back from her travels. Since she'd graduated from Meredor Academy, Morgana had spent the year backpacking all over the world with her best friend Morgause. Arthur had met Morgause once, before they'd begun their travels, and Arthur had to admit it was a little freaky how close they were. It was honestly like they'd been separated at birth, because they wore all each other's clothes and in almost every conversation ended up finishing each other's sentences. He guessed nine years at an all girl's school messed with your head a bit.

Arthur really couldn't believe that it'd only been nine years. He could barely remember the little boy he'd been, so lonely in that great marble house, almost raised singularly by Mrs Black, and constantly at war with his older sister. The thought of Mrs Black sent a pang through his heart; he'd found out a couple of years ago that she'd passed away from cancer. Before she died though, his father promised her that for her years of loyal service to his family, he would make sure that both her children had the best possible education. It was possibly the kindest thing his father had ever done for anyone, and he was sure that his old nanny died happy. Her eldest son, Elyan, had arrived at the academy for the last two years of school, the same time as Gwaine and Percy had. You didn't stay strangers with people for long when you were forced to live with them, and at the end of the two years Arthur felt as though he could call them his brothers. Annoying, brattish brothers he sometimes wanted to punch in the face, but brothers none the less.

"So are British chicks hot?" Gwaine's American drawl interrupted his thoughts. Arthur gave him a knowing smile and a wink in return.

"Guess you'll have to judge that for yourself mate." In all honesty though, Arthur couldn't really answer the question. Once he'd been sent over to the states at the end of primary school, he'd really only visited his home a handful of times, and usually not for much longer past a week. He'd picked up the knack of getting invited back to his friends' houses pretty quickly for the holidays, because it meant delaying having to see his father for another semester. His friends' parents never minded, and his friends' sisters most definitely didn't mind. He chuckled to himself at the thought. For a good looking, military trained, blonde haired, blue eyed bloke with a British accent, picking up girls almost came naturally, much to the dismay of Gwaine. He'd even had Arthur try to teach him his accent, but the American usually mucked it up pretty badly. That being said, Gwaine and his roughish charm didn't exactly have a hard time finding girls either. They'd shared some good times together sneaking out of the academy to the local college bars: good times and a whole lot of booze.

Gwaine's head suddenly perked up as a rare thought crossed through his brain. "Is your sister hot?" Arthur gave him a deadly glare and raised a menacing finger in his direction.

"You'd better stay the hell away from my sister, mate". Gwaine just gave him his goofiest grin in return.

"I promise I'll stay away from her then", he said slyly, "but I can't promise she'll stay away from me". Arthur groaned in frustration and flung one of his not too light bags at Gwaine. The bag collided with his stomach and the American let off a satisfying grunt.

"If you're going to be a tool then, you might as well help me with my bags".

Gwaine pushed the bag off him and sauntered to his feet. "Yes your highness", he mocked, adding an elegant curtsey just for good measure. Arthur raised the other bag suggestively, wondering how hard he'd have to throw it to knock out a couple of Gwaine's teeth. He decided against that course of action though, and they made their way out of the dorm hall and into the fresh summer breeze outside. The rest of his friends were lounging on the strip of grass near the pickup point, almost bouncing with excitement.

Arthur couldn't quite tell how he was feeling at the moment, but excitement was definitely there. Whilst he surely wasn't looking forward to spending extended amounts of time with his father, he was still going home, a place he hadn't truly had for the past nine years. Sure he'd visited home over the years, but those visits went by so fast and the memories slipped away so easily. To be in one place that he could call his own for however long he wanted, now that made Arthur excited. Also, the friends he'd kept in contact with during his long years away, that he couldn't wait for. Whilst he'd been so lucky that his father and Leon's father had decided to send them to the academy together, he still missed his other best mate, Lance. They spoke often online but Arthur still hadn't seen him in years. And then of course, there was always Merl-

_Let's not go there Arthur, _his brain told him, shutting down that train of thought. No matter how carefully Arthur had blocked out those memories, every now and again they came knocking on his door again. Well, less like knocking and more like tearing through with a battering ram and a whole brigade of tanks. He still didn't understand how forceful those memories could be when they wanted to, after all, he'd only known the kid for a year. But still, etched in his memories like a knife carving in wood, was Merlin. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. He'd told himself that it was only because of what he said to Merlin, of how things had ended that the memories still haunted him. But deep down inside, another part of him knew it was something so much more than that.

* * *

"MERLIN!" The screeching voice was coming from the kitchen, and in his sleep addled mind, Merlin wished his mother was as easy to shut up as his alarm clock. He heard her footsteps coming towards his room and the door slamming open, and he braced himself for the worse. Light seared through his vision as she wrenched open the curtains and latched herself onto his leg in an attempt to pull him out of bed. For the tiny woman that she was, Merlin was quite impressed that she actually managed to pull her fully grown son out of bed and onto the floor. Impressed, and quite a bit shocked. He rubbed his bleary eyes enough to see his mother's form retreating out of his bedroom. "You can't be late for your graduation", she called over her shoulder. That surely jolted Merlin awake, and he let his mind ponder over how insanely weird that was. He was graduating? That couldn't be possible.

He managed to pull himself off the floor and went over to the mirror positioned above his dresser. He wasn't exactly bad looking for a seventeen year old, he figured, as he ran a hand over his light stubble. There was no possible way of taming his jet black hair, so he left it as it was and went to splash some water on his face. The past couple of years had been a nightmare for his wardrobe and for his mother, as he went from being shortest in his class to the tallest. Even now he was still growing, and he'd put on a pair of pants the other day he hadn't worn for a month or so and found out they were up past his ankle. He wasn't exactly sad to see some of the horrible clothes his mother had forced him into as a child being discarded as he continued to grow.

The cold water woke him up a bit more and he went back to the dresser to pull a uniform out of the dredges. _Last time I ever have to wear this, _he told himself gleefully. He pulled on the long black pants and navy blue dress shirt which they were forced into for formal occasions, and fumbled around for a few minutes with the damned red tie he could never quite get the hang of. He searched around his room for another couple of minutes in pursuit of his blazer, which he dusted off after he dragged it out from the depths of a pile of long forgotten clothes. The second hand blazer was worn at the edges and far too hot to wear in summertime, not that that was taken into account by the school's dress code. In the places where it hadn't faded down to grey, the blazer was navy blue, and if the golden dragon on the crest hadn't been so old, it would have contrasted nicely against the red tie. He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror, and satisfied with his smart, if a bit crinkled, appearance, made for the bedroom door. He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl as he walked past, gave his mum a peck on the cheek and rushed out before she could force him into ironing his clothes properly. It was a twenty minute walk to Albion State High, but he happily gnawed on his apple as he made his usual detour to the right. The house he stopped at was a little, old-style cottage house with rose bushes out the front and strawberry patches out the back. It was possibly the sweetest house he had ever seen, and it suitably belonged to one of the sweetest people he knew, his best friend Freya. She was just leaving the house as Merlin jumped over the white picketed gate, and gave Merlin an excited smile as their eyes met. She was one of the prettiest girls at the school, Merlin had always thought, not that she'd ever listen to him. Her long, wavy dark hair was in a loose braid down hair back and her pale skin shone. She trotted over to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, giggling as he enveloped her in a bear hug. She pushed him away with a smile and linked her arm through his, and they made their way out towards the street.

"So how's it feel to be graduating today Mr Senior?" Merlin gave her a nervous grin and a chuckle.

"I dunno, it hasn't really sunk in yet I guess. I still wish I had you with me though". He gave her a slightly sad smile but she laughed it off.

"Well that's the price you pay for being a genius, isn't it?" Merlin laughed and nudged her with his arm.

"You'll be alright though next year won't you?" While Merlin knew Freya could handle herself, he was still worried about leaving school without her.

"I'll be fiiine Merlin, stop worrying about me and start worrying about what you're going to do with your lazy self! Your mum never stops complaining to me about how smart you are and yet you don't want to do anything with it!"

"That's not true", he told her. "I think I know, I just, dunno, I want make sure it's definitely gonna be right for me".

"Okay", she agreed. "And besides, I'm still going to have Will with me. Don't start thinking that you're the light of my world, you're ego doesn't need to get any bigger". Merlin put on a shocked expression.

"What do you mean I'm not the light of your world? I thought your whole life revolved around me?" Freya nudged him back and giggled. They turned the corner and to see a familiar face walking towards them, also with a grin on his face. "Well speak of the devil", Merlin said.

"And he shall appear", joked Will, giving Merlin a hug. "So how's it feel to be graduating today, big kid? You too cool to hang around with us young'uns anymore?" They kept walking in the direction of the school, and as usual, in no particular hurry to get there.

"It's not my fault I got moved up a grade. Made if you actually studied..." Will punched him on the arm.

"Well it's not my fault genius is never appreciated in its own time". Merlin and Freya both burst into laughter.

"Genius isn't the word most people would use for it", Freya teased.

"See? You just don't understand me", sighed Will melodramatically. God Merlin would miss these two next year.

While Merlin wouldn't call himself a genius, he was smart enough to be moved up a grade, meaning he was graduating today without most of his best mates. As they made their way into the school gates, Merlin spotted his best friend from his own grade, who was wearing a similar expression to his own, one of excitement and horror. Lance was spread out on one of the school benches chatting to Gwen, another of Merlin's friends from the grade below. Whilst Merlin doubted they themselves could see it, everyone in the whole school knew that they were hopelessly in love with each other. The world might crack open the day they realised. Lance spotted Merlin and gave him an easy smile, although he looked a bit embarrassed, as though he was a naughty child Merlin had caught out doing something he wasn't meant to. Merlin had told him time and time again to tell Gwen but each time Lance had chickened out at the last minute. If it went on for much longer, Merlin had sworn to take matters into his own hands.

Lance excused himself from Gwen and trotted over to Merlin with a sheepish grin on his face. "Shut up", he told Merlin as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I'll do it tomorrow, I swear". _Sure he will, _thought Merlin. Lance clapped his arm around Merlin's back and let out a long sigh. "God I can't wait to leave".

"It couldn't have come any sooner", Merlin replied. At that moment the bell rang, signalling for the students to start moving in to the assembly hall. Merlin loosed himself from Lance for a moment and went back to where Freya and Will were, gathering them both in a great hug. They eventually broke apart, all with huge grins on their faces, and Freya dove in for one last hug. The feeling of her nestled so close into him brought back the strong memories of when they had been together, which had been some of the happiest years of his life. Freya had been his first girlfriend and the only girl he'd ever slept with, something which Merlin had to admit he did miss a lot sometimes. But in the end they'd both realised they worked better being friends, and left it at that. Freya pulled away from the hug and he planted a quick kiss on the top of her head, she being at least a head shorter than him, and he headed back to Lance.

"Good luck Merlin," Freya cried as he left.

"Don't muck anything up you lump," added Will. Merlin hoped Freya had the decency to hit him for that one. He jogged back to where Lance was waiting and the pair nervously made their way towards the great hall. As it came into sight butterflies sprang up in Merlin's stomach; the sudden realisation dawned on him that he would walk into the hall as a student and leave as an adult. And bloody hell, he couldn't wait.

* * *

**A/N: **_Sooo, just a couple of surprises there... hoped you liked it! So you can look forward to some slightly larger chapters now and more "mature content" *wink wink nudge nudge*. Let me know what you think! :) _


	14. Chapter 14

As the ground soared past thousands of metres below his feet, Arthur couldn't help having the notion that this is what it would feel like to be a god. All the millions of people down below looked smaller than grains of sand, the cars on the roads only ants scuttling across the land. _But then_, he thought, _if I was a god, I sure as hell wouldn't have Gwaine drooling on my shoulder_. Arthur had given up a few hours ago on trying to discourage Gwaine from using his shoulder as his own personal pillow; after all it really wasn't all that bad until the American started snoring.

Arthur gazed out the window again, marvelling at the clumps of civilisation that were starting to appear. They were a welcome change to the endless blue ocean, which during the long flight had gotten quite dull. There was only so much blue one could look at before the novelty wore off. The novelty of being on a plane was another thing that had worn off quite quickly. They'd been stuck in their seats for god knows how many hours, seats which Arthur swore shrunk smaller and smaller by the hour, and there was a baby a few rows behind them that had cried, almost literally, the whole flight. But all that seemed a luxury when compared to the tiny meal portions of unidentifiable sludge they'd been served for lunch and dinner. Percy was in the row in front of them and Arthur wouldn't have been surprised if the huge bulk of a man died of starvation before they reached the airport. According to his father, who was paying for their flights over, nine years of militiary school should have hardened them up enough to face the most dire of circumstances, which apparently included international economy.

A loud metallic squawk came through the overhead speakers, abrubtly waking Gwaine from his slumber and signalling a message was about to come through. "Passengers will be informed that the flight is due to arrive into Heathrow Airport thirty minutes time", came the bored sounding voice of the airhostess. Arthur zoned out as she prattled of the other meaningless safety notices and in the same monotonous voice thanked them for flying.

Gwaine stretched himself out lazily, making sure to dig his knees into the seat in front of him. Elyan, who was fortunate enough to be sitting in that seat, turned around and shot him a deadly glare through the gap between the seats. Considering the amount of trouble Gwaine had the tendency to stir, Arthur was half-surprised he'd made it through the academy without being killed in his sleep. Hopefully he'd survive the next two months of holidays - Arthur got on well with Gwaine's parents and he'd hate to have to bring him back in a body bag. But then again, they knew Gwaine and he doubted they'd be very surprised either.

"You never did tell me if your sister was hot, y'know", Gwaine drawled sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Honestly Gwaine, that must be the third time you've asked me that since we got on the plane. And again, the answer is stay the hell away".

"Well does she look like you? Cause I had a dream with you in high heels and dress, and I gotta tell you mate, you do not make one pretty lady", Gwaine shuddered.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Trust you to dream about that".

"You can hardly blame me for being curious-"

"Curiousity did kill the cat".

"Yeah, but I bet it was a stupid cat".

"Oh, because you're such a genius".

"I like to think I am", he smirked. Arthur sighed. Arguing with Gwaine was like arguing with a brick wall. No matter how hard you hit it, it's so thick everything just bounces off. But then again, Arthur would gladly take an eternity of arguing with Gwaine than two months with his father.

Before long they had touched down and were fighting their way through the crowds of people flocking around the departures area. Holiday time at Heathrow wasn't a greatest place to be, but they battled their way through the crowds and past customs and families happily reuniting with each other. Arthur watched as a tired looking man in a business suit was swarmed by giggling children and wife, all laughing and smiling and rejoicing because they were together. Arthur wished his own family was like that.

He scanned the crowd in search of a familiar face, hoping that his father had remembered he was coming home today. When he couldn't see anyone in the crowd of anxious people waiting for family, he scanned over the line of taxi drivers holding signs with their passenger's names on them. Right at the very end of that line, he saw a sign that made him burst into laughter. A slim young woman was holding it with a smirk on her face, and even if he hadn't recognised her, he would surely have identified that sign as a work of Morgana's. Written in large black letters was, "THE ROYAL BRAT & CO.".

Arthur ran over to meet her and she embraced him warmly, a look of actual affection on her face. Morgana certainly wasn't the emotional type, and Arthur knew it wouldn't last long. Soon, she'd be back to her snarky, sarcastic self, but it was good to know that there was something beneath all that.

A year of travelling looked good on his sister: her usually alabaster white skin had a golden glow to it and her already long hair looked like it had grown a foot since he last saw her. As usual, she had the whole I-don't-care-what-I-look-like-but-I-know-you-think-I-look-good thing going was dressed in her usual pair of dark denim skinny jeans with a shirt advertising some indie band he'd doubt he'd ever heard of, topped off with a pair of dark aviators. She'd pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and her wavy black hair nearly reached her waist. Arthur heard Gwaine let off a long, low whistle behind him and he made a mental note to give him a good bash for that later.

He turned back to where his friends were waiting with the bags, all except Gwaine looking slightly awkward. "Well", Arthur started, "guys, this is my sister, Morgana". She gave them a slightly uncharacteristic friendly smile and shook each of their hands as they introduced themselves. But of course, that just wasn't good enough for Gwaine. Instead, he kissed the back of her hand when she offered it to him, and gave her a small and elegant bow.

"Well my lady, I can see where all the beauty in your family went". Arthur stared in open-mouthed shock at Gwaine, who waggled his eyebrows back. Arthur had to admit it was a pretty good line, and on any other girl, it would have worked a treat. But Morgana wasn't exactly any other girl. Arthur almost felt proud as she retracted her hand and gave Gwaine a gentle, if slightly humoured, smile.

"I'll applaud the effort, but you're going to have to try harder than that", she told him. It was Gwaine's turn to be in shock. Arthur doubted he'd ever actually been turned down by a girl before. He had to try not to laugh out loud as Gwaine knotted his brow in concentration, clearly determined not to be beaten. Arthur could almost hear the clogs in his brain whirring.

After doing a few laps of the carpark to locate the ride Morgana seemed to have misplaced and then forcing their bags into a car that was clearly too small to fit all of them, Arthur was thoroughly beat. Combat training he could deal with; long flights he could not. All he longed for now was a soft bed and no Gwaine to bug him. Then, life would be perfect.

He was faintly aware that he was being ushered into the back seat by Percy, and he sleepily let himself be guided into his place. He couldn't exactly pretend that being squashed between the two biggest of the group, Leon and Percy, was a comfortable experience, but he really was too damn tired to care. At least he wasn't Elyan - as the smallest of the group he'd been forced to hide in the boot of the car with the bags. Somehow, and not surprisingly, Gwaine had manouvered himself into the passenger's seat: not only the most comfortable, but the closest to Morgana. He almost felt sorry for his sister; by turning down his best mate she'd unleashed a war of flirting upon herself. Gwaine was ruthless, and Arthur knew he wouldn't stop until he'd won. Maybe Morgana's cool and cunning sarcasm had finally met its match? Then a horrible vision of Morgana dressed in white walking down an isle to where Gwaine was waiting in his tux invaded his mind, and he promptly left that train of thought behind. Nope, he definitely wasn't going there.

The drive from the airport to home was a long one, and one filled with half-forgotten memories. Everything seemed so nostalgic, so unreal, as though his whole childhood had been a dream. And now here he was, walking back into that dream nine years later, but this time as a man. A man who was fully able of confronting his father and not shitting his pants in the slightest, he tried to tell himself.

Fuck, who was he kidding?

* * *

Merlin took another swig of his drink and let off a happy giggle. He wasn't exactly sure what was so funny, but whatever it was was just god damn hilarious. He made his way back over to the sofa where Lance was sitting, only stumbling a little bit. Well, maybe more than just a little bit. As Lance and him had found out his afternoon, Merlin couldn't hold his liquor too well. Lance however was slightly more experienced, and was thoroughly enjoying the experience of seeing his best friend wasted. Drunk Merlin was the greatest thing ever.

"God I l-love yoo", Merlin slurred, finally managing to plump his ass down on the sofa.

"I know mate", Lance told him. At least he's a happy drunk, Lance thought. He'd spent too many parties huddled in toilets with drunk friends who just wanted to cry about all their problems. He wondered what Gwen would be like drunk? Not that he'd ever take advantage of her. In fact he'd probably lock her in a room if she was drunk, just in case anyone else decided to try something with her. Lance couldn't quite explain it, but he was very protective about Gwen. He felt a weight on his shoulder and he turned to Merlin, who'd placed his arm on him and was staring deep into his eyes with a very serious look on his face.

"Yoo're thinken about Gwen, aren'tcha?" Lance brushed Merlin's arm off him, a slightly sheepish look on his face.

"How'd you know?"

"Weeell, yoo always get this weeird glazy look in yoo're eyes when yoo think about her", Merlin slurred, gazing at the ceiling. "Gwen and Laaaance, sitten in a tree", he started singing happily. "K-i-s-s-i-n-g!"

"Merlin! No- I... I don't even know if she thinks about me like that". Merlin gave him a very serious look, the effect of which was slightly impaired when a hiccup escaped.

"Eeveryone can see it", he told his friend wisely, sinking back into his seat with a happy grin. "Is just yoo two that can't".

"That's not true! And if she did, which she doesn't, why hasn't she have said anything?"

"Why haven yoo said anythin?" Lance had to admit he had a point.

"Fine, so if she does like me, which she definitely doesn't, what would I do about it? You know I'm not good with girls". Merlin sighed. Half the girls in their grade probably had "Future Mrs Lott" and "I 3 Lance" scribbled through every page of their diaries, but his friend was far too thick to realise it.

"Weeeell, how bout yoo invite er to the party?"

"That's not a bad idea from someone who's so drunk".

"Ihm not drunk". Lance raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Say the alphabet backwards then". Merlin gave him a dirty look.

"Well.. x... then uh, y... i think.. then skip a few and b, c, a. Close enough".

"You're drunk Merlin", Lance laughed.

"No, yoo're drunk". Merlin poked his tongue out, just for good measure.

"I'm far from drunk, thank you very much". Merlin tried to raise his eyebrow questioningly, but to Lance it looked more like he was having some kind of facial seizure. "See, I'll prove it. Z, y, x, w, v, u, t, s, r, q, p-"

"Ahhh stop it yoo're hurten my head", Merlin moaned.

Lance grinned. "So you are drunk?"

"Maybe ju-hic-st a little", Merlin hiccuped. "But- Ihm still gonna help yoo get yoo're girl".

"Okay mate".

"So go call er!" Lance gave him a shy grin and nearly jumped off the couch and ran to the phone.

Merlin giggled again. God everything was funny. And god he was such a good friend. And god he loved parties! Especially graduation parties. Not that he'd ever been to one, cause yknow, he'd never graduated before. But now he was a proud alu- aluhmm- aluhmnee- ah fuck it- he'd graduated, never mind that funny word. And now there was a party as well! This day just got better and better.

Lance came back to the couch practically bursting with happiness. Merlin thought how funny it would be to see someone actually burst, like a balloon. God he loved balloons.

"Well she said she'd come!" Merlin burst into another fit of giggles. "What's so funny?"

"I- I don't- even- know", he said between bursts of laughter. Lance just turned away with a shrug.

"Well people are gonna start arriving soon mate so you'd better go splash some cold water on you're face. Not that you're drunk or anything", he said said with a wink.

Merlin got up, fell down and got back up again, swaying slightly on his feet. "I'm not drunk", he said defensively.

"Sure you're not", Lance called over his shoulder as he walked away. Merlin made his way awkwardly to the bathroom, marveling at how funny his head felt. He was still amazed that Lance's parents had let him have this party and were perfectly content to leave the house to a swarm of drunken teenagers. He was pretty sure his mum would spontaneously combust if he even asked her. That was why he'd slyly informed her that he was just having a quiet sleepover at Lance's house, reminiscing about the old times and such, certainly nothing to be suspicious about. He had a faint feeling though that she knew exactly what was going down. He hoped she wouldn't bust down the door or something half way through. He wouldn't really put it past his mum though.

He'd made it to the bathroom and cringed as he splashed the cold water on his face. It hit him like a slap, but he did feel slightly less light-headed. The face that greeted him in the mirror did look a little paler than usual, not that it was all that possible to get much paler than him, and he rubbed his eyes, trying to get some life into him. He hoped what he was wearing wasn't too daggy for a party, because he had to admit, his knowledge of parties was slightly limited. But, he thought as he checked himself out, these skinny jeans did make him look goood. He winked at himself and ran his hand through his hand, mucking it up slightly.

Okay, his partially sober self told him, you're definitely drunk.

When he wandered out of the bathroom he found that the music had been turned on and a few people had arrived. Not that Merlin really knew any of them. Most of the people coming tonight were Lance's friends or the girls that were in love with him. Either way, he was more or less guaranteed to be a bit of a loner tonight. Not that it mattered, he thought as he poured himself his third glass of punch, because tonight he had a mission. Tonight would go down in history as the night Lance Lott finally snogged Guinevere Black. Nothing was gonna stop him.

God he loved parties.

* * *

Partying was probably the last thing Arthur wanted to do right now. If sleeping was at the top of his list, then partying would be at the bottom, right below sticking a fork in his eye. But it wasn't like he exactly had a choice in the matter - it was this or spending quality time his father. And faced with that circumstance, going to a party didn't seem so bad after all.

Their meeting had been... tense. He'd walked into the house to find his father standing awkwardly in the hallway, looking almost as nervous as him.

"Arthur", his father stated in greeting. His face betrayed no emotion. Would it have killed him to have smiled?

"Father", Arthur had replied in the same monotonous way. After all, like father, like son.

"Well.. welcome home".

"So glad to be here", he muttered, mustering as much sarcasm as possible. He'd then introduced his friends and after a few inquiries about the flight and such, his father excused himself from them. Arthur could almost hear the collective sigh of relief. Everyone had been on edge for the last minutes; being accessed by Uther Pendragon was no little thing. If he decided he didn't like you, you were in trouble. Arthur knew that from experience.

Fighting off exhaustion Arthur showed his mates to their rooms and then finally sought his own. The room had been untouched since he left it, the decor still the embarrassing design of a nine year old. There was a corner still filled with lego, another with miscellaneous junk he'd collected over the years and a boring wooden desk shoved into the shadows. He didn't believe that no one had moved anything in his absence - it was honestly as though his nine year old self had only walked out of the room moments ago. An old maths textbook lay on it's back, display a curious lack of maths an an abundance of doodles. He sifted through the paper to find the pile of notes he'd found in his desk on his last day of school. Of course there was plenty of the usual _I love you so much Arthur_ letters stained with the tears of heartbroken nine year old girls, but at the very bottom he found the one he just faintly remembered. He sat on his bed as he unfolded the torn of piece of paper, it's edges slightly yellowed with age.

There was only three words on the page, three words that had almost faded away. But even if they had faded away, Arthur still would have remembered what those three words were, because he'd stared at them for hours upon hours, committing every last detail to memory. The message was simple, and written in the childish handwriting of an eight year old. _I forgive you_ it said. I forgive you. It didn't have any name at the end of it, but he knew with out a doubt who it was from. There was only one person he knew that would have reason to write that to him, and there was only one person who would write it in blue crayon.

His memories had been interrupted at that point by his phone vibrating, and he snapped back into the present. He picked up his phone and opened the new message he'd received.

_Good to hear you got in safe! Having a celebration party tonight, you should come. Bring your mates. Can't wait to see you!_  
Sender: Lance Lott

He sighed with frustration - did something in the universe just not want him to go to bed? Cause it seemed bloody well impossible. He was almost considering just not responding and making up an excuse for it later, but at that moment, of all moments, Gwaine burst through his door.

"Get up you lazy sod!" He tried tugging Arthur to his feet. "Leon said some mate just texted him and said there was a party going down! Can't miss that, can we?" Arthur moaned and struggled to his feet. Well there went that plan.

"Okay", he said in resignation. "Go round up the others and we'll head over". Gwaine nearly bounced out the doorway. That man honestly loved parties far too much. He was like a puppy on a sugar high.

And now they were in the car, heading on their way to said party. Arthur had to admit that as they drove around the corner and the house came into view his mood did perk up a little bit. The lights in the house were blaring and they could hear the music being blasted from here. He didn't really have a choice, so he might as well try and have a good time. And who knew? Maybe one of the heart broken girls from primary school would rediscover their love for him, a partially alcohol-induced love of course, and they could ride off together into the sunset... or maybe just into the nearest bedroom.

The car pulled to a stop outside the house and they could see the silhouette of swaying bodies through the windows. Gwaine had replaced his excited puppy dog mood for his laid-back, suave, "lady magnet" attitude, as he put it. He looked cool and confident, where as Percy and Elyan, the innocents of the group, looked slightly nervous. Leon just had his usual dopey grin.

"Everyone ready?" A chorus of nods responded. "Okay then. And Gwaine, behave yourself". The idiot shot him a wink.

They made their way to the door, and stood around awkwardly for a few moments, not sure whether or not to let themselves in. Arthur finally decided to pound on the door a few times and after waiting ten seconds or so, went to test the doorknob. It wasn't locked, so he went to push it open, but just as he put his weight onto it, someone from inside wrenched it open and sent Arthur sprawling inside. His body collided with someone else's and his head spun just a little bit. It probably wasn't his most graceful entry ever.

The took a step back and went to apologise to the owner of the body, but as his eyes met the other person's face, his mouth disconnected from his brain. Standing in the doorway was this man, who had to be about the same age as him he guessed, with jet black hair and electric blue eyes. He had a slightly dopey look on his face and Arthur could see that he was swaying just slightly on the spot, but his obvious drunkenness didn't detract from his beauty. Oh god, I didn't just think that asked a small part of his brain, but the rest of his brain told it to shut up and continue staring. His skin was pale, but not the sort of pale that made him look sickly, not at all, instead in the bright party lights he looked radiant. He had some faded old tshirt on that hugged his arms just well enough for Arthur to see the lean muscles underneath. Then with a start, he realised he was still holding onto the man for support. He snatched them away, trying not to remember the feeling of those hard muscles underneath them, and ran one through his hair nervously.

"Well then", asked the drunken, raven haired man asked happily, "who the bloody hell are you?"

Arthur opend his mouth but the wires hadn't quite reconnected it to his brain and he stood there looking like a fish out of water.

"Ah fuck, it's a party, who cares", the man said, opening the door wide and gesturing for them to come inside. "The party's over there, the grog's over there and I dunno where the fuck anything else is", he said, gesturing wildly. Then he gave them a bright grin and trotted off in some direction. Arthur had to restrain himself from following him. He wasn't gay, he knew that quite certainly. From a lot of experience, he knew he was definitely attracted to women. Then why could all the think about was grabbing that old tshirt and ripping it off?

Sleep deprevation, he told himself. It's definitely that.

* * *

**A/N:** _Ahh I was so nervous about writing this chapter but god I had so much fun with drunk Merlin - he truly is the greatest thing ever. Also, I'm dead tired and my spell check's broken so sorry if there's any typos, I'll go and edit it later. And just in case people haven't realised, the rating has gone up to M and it's gone up for a reason! I'll make sure to put a post up before anything gets too naughty.. so if you don't like don't read :) Thanks again for reading! _

**Copyright:** _In case I fooled you, no I don't own Merlin :( If I did, it most definitely wouldn't be ending...__  
_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **_Aloha! I'm so sorry it's been forever, but you know what it's like over the holidays, too many presents to wrap (and unwrap) and too much food to eat! So here is the chapter, and I'm just gonna warn you, in case there are any people out there who don't read fanfiction for the smut (cause let's admit it, it kinda is the best part), __**there is smut in this chapter. **__You've been warned. Also, a huge thank you to Merthur Dreamer for honestly the most amazing comment ever, which completely made my day :) I love you!_

**Disclaimer**: _I sadly don't own Merlin, everthing belongs to it's respective owners._

* * *

_The Next Morning_

Merlin sat up abruptly and immediately cursed himself for doing so. His vision went swirly and it felt like a hammer was bouncing around inside his head. He gently eased his poor head back onto it's nest of pillows and tried to remember how he'd got himself like this. Judging by the banging around in his head and the icky, fuzzy feeling in his mouth, he had a hangover. He silently swore to himself that he'd never drink again.

His eyes still firmly shut to block out the harsh rays of sunlight flooding the room, he tried to piece the puzzles of last night back together. There'd been… a party. Right, he knew that. At Lance's place, wasn't it? Hopefully that meant he was still at Lance's place. His mother would give him hell if he came home like this. He suddenly remembered a worried-looking Lance and he had the faint recollection that he'd promised him something. God, he hoped he hadn't spent half the night professing his love to him. He knew his best mate would never let him live that down. No that's right, Gwen had been there, hadn't she? That was it. And he'd promised to get them together.

How the bloody hell had he planned to do that?

The muffled feeling in his brain and body was starting to wear off and with a sudden clarity Merlin realised that he wasn't just lying in bed, but that he was feeling awfully aroused. He tried to shift his legs between the sheets to relieve the tension building there, but to no avail. His slightly-addled mind let his hand slowly make its way south, his body yearning for him to take the edge off. His hand almost made it there before the sober part of him swiftly brought it back up. What was he thinking? Lance could walk in at any moment, and he was sure that he'd embarrassed himself enough last night. The last thing he needed was being caught jerking off like a fifteen year old. He tried to soothe himself and shoo those thoughts away, but again, to no avail. He forced himself to picture all his usually never-fail scenarios, including Uncle Gaius naked, but each horrifying image he brought up was countered by another, which only aroused him further. He felt like he was being bombarded with the same series of images, and the noises that accompanied them. There was a flash of blonde hair, the pain of nails digging into his back, hot breath on his neck and warm hand around his manhood. He could almost feel the other body grinding against him, moaning and grunting in unison. It felt so real, but so different to anything he'd experienced. The times he'd been with Freya were amazing, but these mere thoughts alone turned him rock hard.

He gave up on mentally soothing the hardness away; that had only made it worse. He decided a cold shower might do the trick, and if worse came to worse he could always fix himself up there quietly. Now for the tricky part, getting to the shower without anybody noticing. He opened his eyes and immediately winced, quickly regretting that decision. The light in the room felt like it was searing his vision and the pounding in his head returned. Half-blinded but still painfully aroused he rolled onto his side to make his way out of the bed. He wasn't expecting however for something to be blocking his path. Only when he blinked rapidly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes did he realise he wasn't being blocked by something, but by someone. Lying next to him, still fast asleep-

Oh god no. Lying next to him was-

Was-

Who he fuck was he?

* * *

_The Night Before_

Merlin only stumbled slightly as he made his way back from the door, completely unaware of the blonde ogling him from behind. He did feel slightly light headed after letting in the blonde stranger at the door, and he wasn't sure it could be put down completely to the alcohol. He had tried to keep his eyes from wandering, but it hadn't been very successful. He couldn't manage to tear them away from way the stranger's shirt hugged tight against his chest or the little sliver of flesh where it had ridden up his stomach. He'd managed to keep his hands away though, which had been a minor victory. He wasn't too sure the stranger would have appreciated being groped by a drunken man the moment he walked into the house. Having said that, Merlin hadn't exactly minded being groped when the blonde had accidently fallen against him. In fact, he could accidently fall against him anytime. He snapped his mind away from those thoughts. God, did he turn gay when he was drunk or something? But gay or not, he had to have just one more peek. Being as subtle as possible, which really wasn't all that subtle, he craned his neck back over his shoulder to take one last glance at the stranger from the door. What he wasn't expecting was the stranger to be staring back at him as well. Blood rushed to his cheeks and he quickened his pace, glad to be walking in the other direction.

He found his way back to Lance, who was still stuck firmly in the place where Merlin had left him and looked like he was about to start sweating bullets. Merlin followed Lance's line of sight to where Gwen was standing in a corner with a few other girls, looking equally as nervous. He watched as she shyly met Lance's eyes before blushing profusely and ducking her head down. Couldn't these two just hurry up and get it over with? All the tension in the room was starting to make Merlin nervous. Swiping another drink from the table and bouncing jovially towards his best mate, he linked his arm with Lance and jerked him over to the side. Lance usually wasn't capable of forming coherent sentences whenever Gwen was around.

"I got it!", he whispered excitedly to Lance.

Lance shot him a quizzical look. "Got what Merlin?"

"The plan, remember! I got it!" Merlin had to admit the plan was genius, even if he'd only thought of it moments ago.

"Uh Merlin, I'm not sure taking relationship advice from a drunken hyperactive is the best plan". Merlin rolled his eyes and continued. He knew Lance would come through eventually. It was foolproof.

"Yeah whatever, juss lissen will you?" He waited for Lance's hesitant nod of approval before continuing. "Righ- so you two are both in love with each other, but you're scaredy cats - so we make you!" Lance grimaced and placed a gentle hand on Merlin's shoulder.

"Merlin, you can't really force people together. And I'd never do that to Gwen". Bugger it, Merlin thought, he hadn't explained it quite right.

"No, not like that", he explained slowly, as if Lance was a child. "We get you two to play.. Uh fuck what's is called… spin the something or rather I think".

"Spin the bottle?"

"That's the one!" Merlin gave a little happy jump. He'd known the plan was genius.

"I dunno Merlin", Lance said worriedly, "what if she doesn't want to play?" Merlin gave him a long, pointed look.

"She likes you, idiot. Trust me. She's gonna wanna play". Lance still didn't look completely convinced, but at last he gave a small nod of approval. Merlin broke into a big grin.

"Okay then, I'll round up Gwen and some girls, you go get, I dunno. Other people".

"Okay", Lance said warily, moving off towards where a group of guys were standing.

Nothing could possibly go wrong, Merlin thought to himself cheerily.

* * *

Arthur was scanning through the crowd of people, trying to spot Lance out of the sea of unfamiliar faces. To be honest he wasn't even sure that he'd recognise Lance if he saw him, it had been years since they'd last met face to face. It was scary to think just how much they'd both changed in nine years. On the mantel place in his father's living room was the only family photograph with the three of them, and it was the one that Mrs Black had taken just before Morgana had left for boarding school. He'd tried to recognise himself in the picture, a scrawny little boy with dirty blonde hair and a nervous looking smile, but it didn't even register that he'd once been that person. Nine years away from family and friends, and in a completely different country did that to you. He wondered what those same years had done to Lance, and to Merlin, a secret little part of him whispered.

Something in the edge of his vision caught his eye and he spun around, hoping for it to be Lance. It turned out better in fact. The man from the doorway with the raven hair and the blue eyes was busy to talking to someone who had their back turned to Arthur. The man had a goofy, excited grin on his face and was whispering something to the other man. The way his face it up under that smile sent butterflies into Arthur's stomach. He wasn't sure what it was about him - he'd never, ever had a thing for guys. Well, Arthur corrected himself, he wasn't saying he actually had a thing for this guy… but he wasn't saying he didn't appreciate the view.

Arthur then realised that the pair were about to go their separate ways, and he spun back around to his circle of mates before the black haired man caught him watching him for the second time that night. That would probably make him look creepy. And in Arthur's books, creepy wasn't usually the best tactic.

He turned around to his mates to find, even though he swore he'd only been out of it for a minute at most, Gwaine already having draped his arm over a girl. She was a pretty little thing with peroxide hair, a tiny waist and boobs that seemed to burst out of her dress, but Arthur didn't even feel a stir of attraction. Not that that meant he was gay though. It was probably just the long flight. _Man my excuses are starting to sounds lame._ There really was only a short period of time where he could blame this strange attraction to the raven haired boy on jet lag, and after tonight that time would run to a close. He shuddered at the thought of having to have a heart to heart with himself. His usual method when it came to personal crises was just to smother all his feelings deep inside himself until they faded away. A method, he realised, he'd probably inherited from his father.

He decided to scan the room again for either Lance or a girl hotter than Gwaine's to drape his arm over. He might not have felt in the game tonight, exactly, but that didn't mean he was going to sit back and let Gwaine out do him. He had a reputation at stake after all. He spotted a girl, definitely not bad looking, standing by the drinks table trying to subtly pull her top down a little more. Arthur knew her type, the too much makeup and too little self confidence gave it away, and he knew that with a few charming words she'd be easy target. He was about to make a move when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Arthur?" He didn't recognise the voice, but as he spun around he was surprised to still recognise the face. The man standing before him might have gotten taller and stronger and with a light stubble grazing along his jaw, but he still had his unmistakable boyish looks.

"Lance!" They both sighed with relief and gave each other a fierce hug. God it felt good to see him. They chatted for a few minutes, about the flight and the end of school and their glory days in primary before Lance cleared his throat nervously. He kept glancing towards a group of girls a few metres away from them, as if to make sure they hadn't disappeared while he was talking. Arthur recognised the look in his old mate's eyes and couldn't help being amused. Trust Lance, who could probably get any girl he wanted with ease, to have girl problems. "Something up Lance?"

Lance shifted around nervously. "Well it's a really stupid idea, so feel free to say no, but this friend of mine thought it'd be.. Uh, fun, I guess to play a game. Sorta".

"What sort of game are we talking about?" If it was a drinking game, he knew that him and Gwaine could drink any of them under the table.

"Well, it's, uh, spin the bottle. I know it sounds stupid but-"

"Who is she?" Lance blushed a bright red and avoided Arthur's eyes.

"How'd you know?"

"Well, it seems you haven't changed a day since we were eight, so you're probably still as sweet and innocent. You keep looking over to that group over there, so I reckon you must have the hots for one of them. Is it the one who keeps pulling her dress down?"

Lance seemed appalled at the idea and blushed an even brighter red, which spread all the way to his eartips. "No! Gwen's not like that. She the one which the dark curly hair and the smile that lights up the room". Arthur craned his neck over that way, trying to spot this girl. Whoever she was, she seemed to have completely befuddled poor Lance. When he managed to place her cogs whirred in his head and things fell into place.

"That's not Gwen Black, is it?", he asked Lance incredulously. Lance seemed a little bit suspicious, as if there were something going on between them he didn't know about. Man, he really had fallen hard.

"Yeah, Guinevere Black. How'd you know her?" Arthur was still marveling at the coincidence.

"I used to know her when she was a kid. I'd recognise those curls anywhere. That and I went to school with her brother". Lance seemed to pale a little bit.

"Her brother? You don't think he'll mind, do you?" Arthur couldn't even imagine Elyan and Lance, who were probably the two nicest people he knew, being capable of getting into a fight.

"Nah, he'll be fine with it. So spin the bottle then, is it?" Lance nodded in agreement, but still kept taking quick glances to where Gwen was standing.

"So you're up for it?"

"Guess I'll have to take one for the team".

* * *

It only occurred to Merlin when he'd found a bottle and was organising people into a circle on the floor that he didn't actually know how to play spin the bottle. Furthermore, how was he meant to make it land on Gwen and Lance? He'd realised too late that there were flaws in this plan. He found a place in the circle anyway and began eyeing off the other players. There were a few pretty girls, none he really recognised, and none that particularly struck his fancy. Lance came and sat down next to him, giving him a quick, nervous smile. He saw Gwen take her place opposite Lance, and for a brief moment their eyes locked, before they both blushed and looked down shyly. God they were infuriating sometimes. And then someone else came and sat next to Gwen. He realised with a start that it was door stranger again, and as he caught his eyes, they seemed to have the same look of recognition in them as well. The tips of the blonde's mouth flicked up in a barely noticeable smile, as though he was laughing at some secret joke. God he looked good.

He tore himself away from those thoughts and passed the bottle to Lance, giving him a pat on the back for good luck. Everyone was shouting and cheering as the bottle spun across the floor, going slower and slower until it came to a halt. Unfortunately though, it didn't come to a halt in front of Gwen. It was some girl Merlin didn't recognise, but who seemed to know Lance. Well everyone knew Lance but that was besides the point. They leaned into the circle awkwardly and gave each other a quick peck. The crowd, most of which had had a couple of drinks by now, jeered excitedly.

The bottle continued on its journey, being spun again and again with quick kisses being exchanged between the players. They'd have to have a couple more drinks before this thing got interesting, Merlin thought. He went back to musing over some way to rig the bottle for Lance when he realised the crowd had gone quiet and all eyes were on him. Had he been talking out loud? That could have been awkward. But no, everyone was looking at him expectantly.

"Is it my turn then?"

"No mate", Lance said, "the bottle landed on you". True in fact, was that, the neck of the bottle was pointing directly at him.

"Whoops, must have zoned out for a minute. Who spun it?" He looked around at the girls in the circle, waiting for one of them to lean forward.

"I did", came a deep voice from the other side of the circle. It was blonde stranger that had spoken up. Well, Merlin definitely hadn't been expecting that.

"Well then", he laughed nervously. In that moment his whole body tensed up, his mouth went completely dry and his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. Relax, dammit. This was going to be worse than his first kiss. He forced his frozen body into the circle, gulping down deep breaths of air. At least the slightly uncomfortable feeling about having everyone's eyes on him had been significantly lessened by the number of drinks he'd had. The blonde was also moving into the middle of the circle, slowly and almost predatory, and their eyes met. Merlin wanted to look away but he couldn't. Those eyes were staring at him so intently, drawing Merlin closer. He had to just be putting this on for the crowd. Was he really as serious as he looked?

Their faces met, just barely apart, and Merlin could feel the other man's breath on his face. The sudden warmth that played across his skin sent tingles down his spine and made him almost shiver with anticipation. Merlin hesitated, his brain slightly devoid of the information that would stop him looking like a slack-jawed imbecile, but thankfully the man seemed to recognise his uncertainty. He reacted smoothly and took the lead, placing his hand underneath Merlin's jaw and tilting his face upwards, giving Merlin the best possible angle to stare up into his eyes. The blonde carefully placed his lips on Merlin's, who was still frozen to the spot. What was happening? His mind seemed to be going into meltdown. But his body liked the way those lips felt on his and left his mind behind, acting on their own accord. His lips responded to the other man's and he opened his mouth to him, deepening the kiss. He brought one hand up to cup the blonde's face and the other grasped at his tshirt, pulling him closer together. His body wanted to take it further, to push himself against the stranger and kiss him senseless but the cheering of the crowd suddenly reminded him that they weren't alone. He broke away from the kiss and scooted back to his place, his body instantly crying out at the loss of the sensations.

Lance nudged him in the ribs and sent him a wicked grin. "Pervert", Merlin whispered back. Even whispering though seemed to take a lot of effort, cliché though it may be, that kiss had knocked the air out of him. There was a warm, fiery sensation pooling in the depths of the his belly and he was still fighting the instinct to launch himself back over to the other side of the circle. His cheeks were burning and his heart rate felt like it what going at triple speed. Was this what it was like to have a heart attack? Maybe he just needed a bit of air.

He stumbled to his feet and made his way out of the room, trying to locate the back door. In comparison to his own, Lance's house was a mansion, and in a drunken state it wasn't exactly easy to navigate. After five minutes of bumping around and knocking into walls he gave up on search for the elusive door and set out for his guest room instead. He was slightly more confident he'd be able to find that. It wasn't his fault this place was practically a maze.

On his second attempt he managed to find his bedroom, the first attempt having involved walking very embarrassingly in on some rather intimate strangers, and he flung himself on the bed, his head pounding. Maybe he wasn't a big of a party animal as he thought. He let the kiss play over in his mind again and again, relishing in every detail he could recall. The strong, rough hands of the other man on the smooth skin of his neck, the way his chest felt like it would explode, the need to be as close as possible. His trousers felt like they had shrunk two sizes too small and his breathing was still ragged. It had been a long time since Freya, he rationed with himself, and there hadn't been anyone since. It was natural for him to be reacting this way. He would have reacted the same way if it had been anyone. But really, he knew that was one hell of a lie.

A short, hesitant knock sounded on the door. It was probably just Lance, checking to make sure he hadn't knocked himself out or fallen into the toilet or something like that. Lance tended to be a bit of a drama queen. He made his way over to the door slowly, his head spinning.

"Look, still alive you big dra-" He cut off his sentence abruptly as his brain processed who was standing at the door to his bedroom. It wasn't Lance. It was however, blonde stranger. Standing outside his door. The door to his bedroom. He audibly gulped.

Blonde Stranger, Merlin decided his name was, had a wild look in his eyes. His breathing was as ragged as Merlin's and his heart was probably beating just as fast. And he was standing outside his bedroom. Outside his bedroom. Merlin couldn't quite say that he was the master of romance, but he understood that that usually only meant one thing. One thing that he suddenly realised, he desperately wanted.

A sudden burst of energy overcame him and he launched himself at Blonde Stranger, their lips meeting ferociously with all the passion they had held back from their last kiss. There was no finesse or sweetness to their kiss, their mouths and teeth clashing against each other in an angry, breathy kiss. Merlin could feel himself being maneuvered out of the doorway and into the room, and he swung out his leg to kick the door shut. His hands were wandering up Blonde Stranger's shirt, marveling in the lithe, flexed muscles underneath. A moan escaped his lips as Blonde Stranger pressed his thigh between Merlin's legs, and Merlin arched into it, keening at the unexpected pleasure it released. But it wasn't enough. It was so much less than enough.

He broke apart from the kiss. Blonde Stranger looked just as hungry and wanton as he expected he did, hair disheveled, lips parted and cheeks pounding with blood. He looked so… so damn fuckable.

Before his mind had a chance to catch up to his body Merlin pushed Blonde Stranger back towards the bed, simultaneously attacking his neck with ferocious kisses. Blonde Stranger's knees buckled underneath him and all of the sudden they were lying on the bed, Blonde Stranger on his back and Merlin straddling him, and in that moment Merlin realised he'd never been more turned on at any point in his life.

It was about then that he completely lost rational thought.

* * *

He. He absentmindedly remarked to himself. He'd slept with a he. Or had he? Running his eyes quickly over the other man's body part of him surely hoped he did. The other man was lying on his back, one arm dangling off the edge of the bed and the other flung across his chest, sadly obscuring the tight muscles underneath. He had a strong, handsome face that was somehow softened in sleep to look charmingly boyish. He realised with a start that the stranger had blonde hair, just like the person in his rather erotic daydream. So all that had actually happened? He silently cursed his drunken inability to remember most of it.

The handsome stranger didn't seem to be stirring, and Merlin fought the temptation to let his hands wander. He didn't need to be molesting sleeping people right now, he needed to make an escape. That however, didn't seem too easy in his current predicament. The stranger had annoyingly spread himself across the edge of the bed in a fashion that neatly blocked Merlin getting out. He'd have to use all of his limited acrobatic skills to get out of his one. Pushing the blanket off of him, Merlin placed a hand on the other side of the man's chest, groping around until he had a firm grip on the edge of the bed. He took a deep breath and as smoothly as possible maneuvered his leg over the sleeping man. His plan would have gone off without a hitch if at that moment the stranger hadn't chosen to wake up. Slightly dazed blue eyes fluttered open from beneath their lids and an almost familiar smirk found its way to the blonde's face. Was he sure he didn't know him?

"Well", whispered the blonde in a low, husky tone, "it's not every day I wake up being straddled by a gorgeous stranger". Merlin realised with a start that was what it must have looked like and part of him told him not to fight it. Here he was, straddling some strange guy he'd woken up with, stark naked with a blazing erection. It was probably one of the more embarrassing situations he'd found himself in. Blood rushing to his cheeks he scrambled to cover himself with the blanket, muttering out some form of semi-coherent words.

"Um, well, you see, not what it looks like, I think, I don't really know what going o-" The blonde silenced him abruptly by bringing a hand to his face and cupping it tenderly.

"I think I know exactly what's going on", he murmured softly, gently guiding Merlin's face towards his. Merlin really had no idea what to do and just let the blonde guide him, letting his body go on auto-pilot. The blonde sat up against the headboard and Merlin crawled closer to him, their faces just inches apart. He still had the smell of sweat on him from last night, mixed in with a scent that Merlin found so familiar but so difficult to place, like a déjà vu. The blonde lifted his face up to his and abandoning all rational thought, Merlin pressed his lips against his. They met tenderly, slowly, neither making any sudden movements as though they were scared the other would be frightened away. It was a completely different sensation, Merlin mused, to kissing a girl. There was no feminine softness to the other man, no need for Merlin to control himself. He'd always been constrained with Freya, as though she'd break if he pushed to hard. But the man underneath him now had strength, not only in his muscles, but Merlin could tell, in his experience. The thought of not having to hold himself back made Merlin harden again, and he broke off from the kiss, panting softly. The blue eyes of the other man met his, worried for a second, but then recognising the slightly wild look in Merlin's eyes, grew bold.

The blonde grabbed the back of Merlin's head and brought his lips down to his own, crushing them together. Merlin met them with intensity, the sweetness of their last kiss gone. His fingers found their way into the blonde's hair, knotting them there tightly and pressing himself deeper into the kiss. The blonde's mouth parted underneath his and he felt his tongue dart into his mouth, grazing itself against his own. Merlin groaned into the kiss and pushed his tongue against his, tasting the sweet, lingering taste of alcohol.

Merlin's head was spinning and he came up for air, but the blonde wasted no time and attacked his neck with fiery kisses. Merlin bared his neck and moaned again, pushing his chest flush against the blonde's and pinning him to the headboard. The blonde however, had other plans. Whilst Merlin wasn't exactly weak, he could barely put up a struggle as the blonde fought against him, maneuvering Merlin onto his back and holding himself above him. Merlin stared at the god of a man above him, a man whose name he still didn't know he reminded himself, and pulled his lips down to meet his once again. Their kisses had an edge to them now, a certain desperation, as their bodies lay flat against each other's and they marveled in the sensations. The man above him thrust against him, the sweet friction of their bodies making his desire almost painful.

He moved against Merlin again, slower and more intense this time. Merlin broke off the kiss and let his hands grip the firm muscles above him, which were covered in a thin sheen of sweat as he continued to grind ever so slowly against Merlin. His pace was infuriatingly and deliberately slow, as though he was waiting for Merlin to beg. Instead, Merlin wrapped a leg around his hips and thrust up against him. It was the blonde's turn to moan keenly, and the sound sent more blood to his already throbbing member. The blonde lowered himself down enough to brush his own member against Merlin's, and Merlin threw his head back at the sensation. The tease went to lift himself off again, further prolonging Merlin's need, but instead Merlin wrapped both legs around his waist, grinding them together. The blonde lifted his chest off Merlin's and moved his hands to Merlin's thighs, securing them around his waist. He now sat straddled on top of Merlin, and his eyes flashed mischievously.

He begun again at his infuriatingly slow speed, seeing it necessary to draw out the torture, and flicked Merlin's hands away when he went to touch himself. Again, ever so slowly the blonde built up the speed, grinding himself onto Merlin's lap until the raven haired boy was writhing underneath him, trying desperately to contain his moans. Merlin was past the point of thinking coherently, all of time welding itself together in a long, blissful moment. His eyes flickered open to see a similar expression on the blonde's face, and he knew they were both coming to their edge. Still unsure of what he was doing he reached down, wrapping a firm hand around the blonde's hard member. The sensation sent a shudder through the blonde and his pace stuttered, his eyes flashing wildly.

Stars collided into Merlin's vision as one of the blonde's hand found its way down to his own member, the other restraining Merlin's hips from arching upwards. They panted together as their hands moved slowly and nervously on each other, and then with more urgent moans as they grew bolder. The blonde had paused his movements on top him before, but now started grinding against him, but this time with a far greater urgency. The bliss had spread to every part of Merlin's body and there was a haze to his vision, he knew he could only last a few more thrusts. He bit his lip to stop the moans escaping, and he could tell the grunts coming from above him meant the blonde was nearing his release as well. He just needed that little bit more-

With his spare hand Merlin reached up to the blonde above him and entwined his fingers in his hair, pulling his face down to his. Their lips met with such passion and desperation that Merlin could down nothing else but arch up into his partner, groaning as he found his release. The sound of Merlin's moan and his body arching underneath him brought the blonde over the edge as well, and he continued grinding against the man underneath him as he rode the waves of his orgasm.

He collapsed against Merlin's chest then, sweat and come coating the both of them, and rolled off him, untangling their legs. Merlin ran his hand through the other man's hair and they softly brought their lips together, still panting from the exertion.

* * *

A week ago, Arthur might have found being called gay an insult. But if it meant lying in bed with a complete stranger after two rounds of mind-blowing, toe-curling, heart-stopping sex, he didn't find the term quite as insulting. In fact if it meant more of this, he would quite readily call himself gay.

Arthur Pendragon, heir to the Pendragon Empire, son of the mighty Uther Pendragon and brother to the just as terrifying Morgana Pendragon, was gay. And not only was he gay, but he'd actually done something gay. An actual gay thing, with another gay person, dicks and all.

He'd probably have to find a better way to put that to his father though.

But in that moment, lying with possibly the most beautiful man he'd ever met, still shaking from the gut wrenching orgasm he'd just had, he honestly didn't care if his father tried to cut off his head and stick it on a pike. In that moment, all he cared about was the man lying next to him.

* * *

**A/N: **_Phew! __**Please **__tell me what you thought cause I was super nervous posting it, it's my first real attempt at smut (let's all laugh at the newbie..) so any feedback would help! And again, thanks for putting up with me :) _


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:**_ Yes, I've been really slack, forgive me! A ginormous thanks again to everyone who's stuck with me this far :)_

* * *

Merlin's mother had always told him that you've got to try everything at least once in life. However Merlin wasn't sure that having a drunken shag (well two really) with a complete stranger was exactly what his mother had had in mind. Two rounds of messy, sweaty sex, the thought of which alone brought him half hard under the cold spray of the shower. Had it been a mistake? Very likely. But was it a mistake that Merlin would make again? In a heartbeat.

He'd managed to escape from their tangled limbs when Blonde Stranger had drifted off to sleep again, Merlin only wasting a few moments (well more like minutes if he was going to be honest) gazing at the peaceful face of the man beside him before wrapping a towel around his waist and slipping off in search of a bathroom.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen him before, but he told himself that Albion was a large town and it wasn't unlikely he'd passed him in the grocery store. It wasn't like he'd known him in a past life or something like that. People weren't destined to be together, not like in those soppy romantic movies he'd stay up late watching with his mum. People weren't just drawn together by some mystical force, they weren't decreed to be together since the beginning of time. Life wasn't a romantic movie. And yet Merlin couldn't help wishing that it was. Romantic movie hero-Merlin would return to the bedroom where romantic movie hero-Blonde Stranger and he would cuddle and talk about their dreams and goals and then they would get married and drive off into the sunset.

He turned his face up to the shower head, hoping the cold water would wash away his puffy eyes and throbbing head ache. He had enough things to deal with right now, and walking into the house looking like he'd fallen asleep in a toilet and letting loose the harpy that was his mother wasn't something he needed on top of that. What he did need to do was figure out what the hell he was going to do. The way he saw it he had two options. Either he could march back into that room and demand to know everything about Blonde Stranger, including real name, phone number and the time he'd be picking him up for an actual date, or he could quietly slink off back to his own house and pretend it had all never happened.

He turned off the water tap and reached for his towel, running it over his body and fastening it around his waist. He wanted more than anything to go for option one and damn the consequences, but there were so many what ifs buzzing around in Merlin's head he wanted to swat them away like flies. What if Blonde Stranger didn't want this too? What if it had just been a drunken shag? What if Merlin walked back in there and Blonde Stranger just laughed at him? If Merlin was in no way an expert when it came to dating girls, then he'd be absolutely bloody hopeless at trying to figure out another guy. Or what if Blonde Stranger was actually a forty year old man cleverly disguised, or a serial killer on the loose? Okay, those theories were a little bit irrational, but the rest of Merlin's fears still remained. If he walked back into that room, he'd either have the chance at an amazing relationship with an amazing guy, or be utterly humiliated by a complete and utter douche bag.

Was he willing to risk it?

* * *

Arthur sat bolt upright in bed, his sleep and sex addled mind trying to figure out where the warm object next to him had gone. He'd sworn it had only been there moments before. He gave up on trying to figure it out and decided instead to find it. He quite liked that warm thing.

It took most of his strength to push himself out of the still warm confines of the bed, but when Arthur Pendragon made up his mind, he made up his mind. It only sucked that his mind was giving him such hell at that moment. It wasn't like he had some serious years of drinking under his belt, but he thought he'd been through enough for his body to have gotten used to it by now. Gwaine's body on the other hand was just as annoying as the person who strode around in it, because no matter how much he drank the night before, Gwaine would be as bright and bloody chipper the next morning as he always was. Sometimes Arthur swore that Gwaine walked around wanting to get punched. This morning probably wouldn't be all that different.

It took him a fair while to sort through the clothes that had been strewn around the room by last night's activities and an even longer time to get his arms into the right holes of his tshirt. There was no mirror in the room but he could only image what a sight he'd be, hair mussed, eyes bleary, pants most likely on back to front and a stupid, dopey grin on his face. It'd have to do. He just had to find- well whatever the bloody hell his name was. He couldn't have gone far.

He stumbled his way around the house, being guided by the faint recollection he had from last night, and managed to come across what he remembered to be the living room. Hung over, drunken bodies were strewn across the room, some perched on couches but most lying on the floor, probably where they'd dropped last night. He picked through them quietly, earning a few hisses and choice swear words where his slightly uncoordinated feet trod on someone's fingers. The place was a mess and the people looked absolutely trashed, which gave every indication that the party was a great one. Still, Arthur wouldn't have missed last night even for the best of parties.

He registered a familiar face lying at the foot of the couch and made his way over, nudging the sleeping figure with his toe until some signs of life started to appear. Signs of life were always good the next morning. If it had been any other person he probably would have earned himself a couple more swear words, and if it had been Gwaine he'd probably have lost his toe by now, but instead the slowly rousing Lance muttered a soft _sorry_ under his breath. Trust Lance to apologise for Arthur kicking him awake.

"Lance, mate, wake up". Lance rubbed his bleary eyes and tried to focus on the man standing above him.

"Arthur? What's up?"

"Oh good you're awake. Thought I was gonna have to perform CPR for a sec."

Lance grimaced and tried to sit up, wincing at the effort. Arthur knew only too well how he was feeling. As Lance rubbed his head and continued blinking his eyes a small smile came to his lips, which promptly erupted into a grin.

"What are you looking so happy about?" Arthur queried. "We haven't even had breakfast yet."

A faint blush crept up into Lance's cheeks. "I can't believe last night really happened", he whispered, looking like he'd just won the lottery. He glanced over his shoulder to the person sleeping on the couch above him and Arthur thought if it got any wider his face would explode. It took a couple of seconds to get the cogs whirring in Arthur's brain, but finally Lance's face and the deep brown curls of the girl sleeping on the couch registered and something clicked into place.

"Oh", he stated. "Oh! You and Gwen! Finally!" Lance looked like he'd just delivered his first born child or something.

"I can't believe I did it, I mean, one second we were talking and then the next I was leaning in and then she was kissing me back", an incredulous look spread over his face. "She _kissed_ _me back_", he whispered to himself, as if he couldn't quite believe it was true. Arthur felt the sudden urge to slam his head against the wall, and he'd only had to deal with his Lance and Gwen saga for a day. He pitied the poor bugger that was Lance's best mate; he'd probably have been hearing this for years.

Arthur almost felt his heart wrench out a little bit when Lance leant back and slid a curl back behind Gwen's ear, softly kissing her forehead with such tenderness in his gaze no one could deny how much he loved her. Was something like that too much for Arthur to ask for?

Lance stood up and motioned for Arthur to follow him into the kitchen, and they both picked their way through the sleeping bodies carefully until they were out of earshot. Lance's grin still hadn't faded.

"So what did you want me for?" Lance made his way over to the kettle and flicked it on before dragging some instant coffee out of the cupboard.

"Well, I-" It was only then Arthur realised he wasn't quite sure how he'd planned to ask Lance. _So I slept with some random bloke, oh yeah, just realised I'm gay by the way, and I can't find him, dunno what his name is, but tall, dark and handsome. Ever heard of him? _"Um, I was just looking for someone… he uh… he told me he might be able to get me a job in town but I, uh forgot his name. He had black hair?"

Lance snorted as he fiddled around getting the coffee ready. "That's real descriptive Arthur".

"I know, I just, you know, party, drinking and… other stuff, didn't really think about it."

"Speaking of missing", Lance said suddenly. He jerked is head up and headed back into the living, well more like nearly-comatose and hung-over, room. Arthur watched as Lance did a quick scan through the crowd, trying to pick out a face.

"You all right?"

Lance made his way back into the kitchen, a slightly concerned look on his face. "Yeah I'm fine, I just can't find a friend. He said he was gonna sleep over".

"Could he have gone home already?"

"I didn't see him much last night actually, he disappeared half way through. But y'know, Merlin's not much of a party animal, as much as he likes to think he is, he probably slunk back home-"

It took a couple of moments for Arthur's brain to register what Lance had said. "Wait, what?" Lance looked at him questioningly.

"I said, my friend, Merlin, he probably went home-" How many Merlin's could there by in one town? It wasn't like John or Matt, where everyone probably knew five, this was _Merlin_. He'd only ever met one Merlin.

"D'you mean Merlin, Merlin _Emrys_?" Arthur asked.

Lance gave a short chuckle. "Of course I mean Merlin Emrys. How many other Merlin's do you know of? Did you know him or something?"

_Bloody hell. _Merlin had been here last night, _Merlin _bloody _Emrys. _How had Arthur missed him? Well there was a whole lot of people, and it had been nine years, would he even recognise Merlin now? Would Merlin even recognise him?

A thought struck a blow to Arthur's stomach – maybe Merlin _had_ recognised him. Was that why he left, did he still not want to see Arthur?

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and forced a chuckle out. "Yeah, something like that". Lance didn't seem to notice anything and went back to making the coffee. A thousand questions were running through Arthur's mind - how was Merlin? How did Lance know Merlin? Why was he at a graduating party? Had he ever mentioned Arthur? – but he dragged his mind back into the present, and namely, back to his search for tall, dark and handsome. Lance slid the steaming cup of coffee over to him and he smell kicked some of his brain power into gear.

If military school had taught him anything, it was the importance of having a plan. If his brain would come back from land of the dead for a few minutes, there was an actually possibility of him forming a successful one at that. It wasn't like tall, dark and handsome had magic or something, so he couldn't just disappear from the house. If Arthur waited where the others were sleeping, he'd catch up with him eventually.

He turned back to Lance who was sipping his coffee reverently, as though it was a gift from the heavens itself. "So", Arthur jeered, waggling his eyebrows. "You and Gwen, huh? You didn't get up to anything… not strictly PG last night?"

Lance choked on his coffee. "I'm sorry", he managed to splutter out, "_what_?" His cheeks turned a bright, scarlet red that Arthur was sure wasn't just because of his inability to breathe properly. Arthur chuckled to himself. Lance had seemed to regain his composure, placing the coffee cup a safe distance away on the bench, as though he was worried it'd have ideas about trying to choke him again.

"Oh come _on_ Lance, we're young, she's gorgeous, also quite drunk at that stage – you're seriously telling me you didn't try anything?"

"Of course not!" Lance looked appalled at the idea. "I mean, I'm annoyed at myself for even _kissing _her without taking her on a real date first!" Arthur decided that telling his mate what he'd gotten up to last night probably wasn't the greatest of ideas.

"God, Lance, I swear you must have been a saint in a past life".

Lance let a small, dreamy smile come to his lips. "It's just, I know she's too good for me", he sighed whilst Arthur restrained himself from slapping some sense into him. "I just want to treat her like she deserves to be treated". Definitely a saint, Arthur told himself. "But really", Lance continued, "I owe it all to Merlin. I mean if he hadn't thought about spin the bottle I'd never have gotten up the courage-"

A sudden realisation dawned on Lance's face, as if something some hazy detail of last night had swum back into his memory. "Wait a sec, Merlin he was playing spin the bottle, didn't you and he-"

It was at that moment though that Arthur saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye, heading towards the back of the house. He turned his body around to catch a glimpse of it, but it had already fled. He held up a hand to silence Lance. "Wait, is there a back door around that way?"

Lance nodded and tried to continue his sentence, but Arthur was already moving out of the kitchen and towards the back of the house. It might have just been his eyes playing a trick on him, but he had this feeling in his gut he'd known exactly who it was. If tall, dark and handsome fled right now Arthur didn't know if he'd ever see him again, after all, he didn't know anything about him, and the thought of that made Arthur hurry a little faster.

"Arthur!" Lance called behind him. "You and Merlin! Last night! You-", but Arthur had already reached the back door. His heart sunk as he realised it was still flung open from the last person to go through it. It was still swinging on its hinges, the person could have only passed through it moments ago.

Had it been his stranger? Had he really run away? It wasn't like Arthur was a stranger to one night stands, but he was usually the one doing the running. But there was no way he'd planned to run away from this one. He couldn't quite explain it but this time, this time it felt different. Like it was meant to be something more. But seeing as the jerk had just fled the house like Arthur had the plague, it must just have been the drinks talking. And unless he got Lance to write out a name and description of everyone at that party, Arthur had no idea how he'd find him again.

Worse still, did he even want to be found?

* * *

The cold shower had done absolutely nothing to solve Merlin's dilemma, and neither had the last five minutes he'd spent pacing up and down the bathroom. Should he, shouldn't he? Should he, shouldn't he? He had to return to the room at some point - coming home hung over was one thing, but his mum most definitely wouldn't appreciate him naked as well – but if he chickened out he could always hide in the bathroom until he was completely sure Blonde Stranger had left. But, he told himself, he really didn't want to do that. Sure, there was a possibility the guy was an absolute douche, but there was also the chance that he felt the same was a Merlin.

_Follow your heart._

"Wait, what?" Merlin quickly spun around the room, having a mini heart attack that someone was hiding in there. As someone who talked to himself on a regular basis, not that that made him crazy or anything, he knew what his own voice sounded like in his head, and that was definitely not his own voice. Either someone was hiding in the room or he'd _literally_ had mind-blowing sex and was now having a psychotic breakdown.

The voice chuckled in his head, its tone rich and smooth and filled with the surety that comes with old age. _It's been a long time since we've had this conversation Merlin. A long time indeed. _Right, so an old man talking to him from inside his head. There wasn't anything strange about that.

"Um.. can you hear me?" His voice was a little bit shaky and far too high pitched.

_There's no need to speak aloud Merlin. _The voice chuckled to itself again, as though it was particularly amused with itself. _People might think you're delusional._

Okay, so the voice in his head was calling him crazy now. Nothing to be worried about. He gathered all his will and shoved it back at the voice. _CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? _he asked it.

The voice winced inside his head. _Now need to shout, I can hear you perfectly fine, thank you._

_Oh, _Merlin responded. _Is this better?_

_Now you're getting the hang of it._

_So, um, not to be rude or anything, but is there a particular reason you've chosen this moment to trigger my mental breakdown?_

Again the voice in his head chuckled. Merlin was starting to find this enigmatic nature of it rather annoying. _Well Merlin, I can tell you you're not having a mental breakdown._

_Gee, that's real comforting coming from the voice in my head._

The voice chose to ignore that. _But yes, I am here for a reason. Like I said, I had this conversation with you once, but a very, very long time ago. I seem to recall you being just as stubborn. _Merlin suddenly found his vision filling with memories of his childhood right up to images from last night, as though the voice was rifling through whatever he could find. Merlin's cheeks burned red.

_Hey! That's none of your business. _He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force the images back into his memory and away from prying eyes. Not that, you know, the voice really had eyes. Or did it? He really didn't have a clue.

_Well done Merlin. Blocking someone from your memories is a useful skill to have. But as I was saying, well yes, I see now that the situation is, uh, slightly different this time. Interesting._

_Sorry, but what's interesting?_

_All in good time my dear boy. Now the reason for my being here, apart from making you question your sanity. You have a decision to make, do you not?_

_How did you- _Merlin chose to let that drop. _Well, yes. Sort of. Not that it's any of your business._

_Well then, I've given you you're answer. Follow your heart. It will lead you to your destiny._

_My what? Who the hell talks about destiny anymore?_

The voice gave a long, exasperated and slightly melodramatic sigh. _I am a bit out of my time. But heed me Merlin. Perhaps this time the circle will be broken._

_The what? What does a circle have to do with anything? Hello? Oi! You can't just leave- _but Merlin felt a slight weight lifting off his shoulders, a weight he didn't know he was carrying, and he knew the voice had gone, whatever the hell it had been.

Right, so his bloody godmother had visited and told him to be a good little Cinderella and _follow his heart. _Did it mean what he thought it meant?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

He wrapped the towel a little firmer around his waist and pushed the door open hesitantly, as though he expected some idiot to be standing outside telling him he'd just got punk'd. But no one was waiting outside, which just meant it was a run of the mill, talking to the voice in his head psychotic episode. He wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.

He made his way through the hallway, adrenaline pumping through his veins and his body ready to take off running in the other direction at any moment. He didn't even have anything semi-resembling a plan, instead he just focused on making it to the door and opening it. He'd figure out something after that. He hoped this something meant being awfully suave and charming Blonde Stranger's pants off (again). Or maybe he'd just stand there gaping like a drowning fish like he did in most of his English class presentations. Let's go back to not thinking about it, he told himself.

He felt like the blonde haired girl that gets murdered at the beginning of every horror film, sneaking down the hallway and afraid to open the big, bad door. It just looked so menacing now, standing right outside it. Maybe he still had time to run? The floorboards chose that moment to squeak though and he silently swore to himself. Blonde Stranger would know he was standing outside now like an idiot. He'd might as well get it over and done with.

Merlin couldn't help the grin that crept onto his face as he opened the door. This was definitely the right decision. He'd have been crazy not to come back, to miss this opportunity-

No he hadn't. He'd been an idiot. A complete and utter _fucking _idiot.

The room was basically deserted: the bed looked like it had been made in a hurry and any trace of Blonde Stranger was gone. Merlin ran over to the desk in the corner where he spotted a pen and a pad of sticky notes, but a tear rolled down his cheek as he realised the pad was empty. No name, no number, no sorry-I-had-to-dash. Just absolutely _fucking _nothing.

Merlin wanted to kick himself. What had he been expecting? Two guys get drunk, end up in a room together, shag each other senseless and then all of the sudden Merlin's telling himself to follow his heart like fucking Cinderella? He'd read too much into it again. It had just been a one night, no questions asked, no names told thing. And here he was, crying like an idiot and expecting a love letter from Mr Right.

He was not in the mood to go find Lance or anyone else and answer the inevitable, _so where'd you end up last night? _He was not in the fucking mood.

He grabbed the clothes he'd left lying on the ground and shoved them on, wiping his eyes angrily in the process. _Idiot, idiot, idiot. _Before he made his way out the door he went back to the table and ripped off a sticky note, taking the pen in hand. But it was just his bloody luck that when the put the pen to paper nothing came out. He scribbled on the paper angrily, shook the pen around and banged it against the desk a couple of times, but still nothing. Had the universe just decided to hate him today? He grabbed the old, weathered bag that he'd brought with him to the party and dumped by the doorway, digging around in its depths for something of use. He usually tried not to stick his hand into it if he could; the grimy old thing had gathered about fifteen years of miscellaneous crap and half eaten food in its pit. Still, there had to be something there.

He'd almost given up and was thinking of just calling Lance later to let him know he wasn't face down in a gutter somewhere when his hand enclosed around something that wasn't old candy wrappers or sandwich crusts. It was smooth instead, with a certain waxy texture that instantly flooded his head with memories of his childhood. He pulled out the little stub of what his seven year old self had once prized so dearly he'd tackled Arthur Pendragon to the ground for it. That fight had certainly stuck in his memory.

He didn't have any other pens, so he really didn't have many other choices. Lance would probably give him a gibe about it later, but it'd have to do. He grasped what little remained of the infamous blue crayon and pulled off another sticky note, furrowing his brow as he tried to get it to produce something legible. It was hard work. He pulled back to admire his handiwork, and scoffed at himself. If he hadn't of just written it moments ago, he could have convinced himself that little seven year old Merlin had written it.

_Lance – thanks for the party, headed home early, speak to you later. M._

Merlin considered shoving the remains of the crayon in his backpack, but he thought better of it. After all, it was just a stub of a crayon right? He didn't need to be carrying junk like that around. He left it with the note on the table and made his way towards the doorway. Hopefully Lance would find the note and wouldn't bug him for a day or two. All Merlin wanted to do right now was hole himself up in his bedroom and not interact with any other human life forms for a few days at least. Flinging the bag over his shoulder he made his way out of the room, hoping to quickly sneak out the back door before he was ambushed.

Yeah right, follow your heart. What a load of shite. He should have followed his bloody head instead.

* * *

Arthur shut the back door reluctantly, as though part of him hoped the black haired boy would come running back in at any moment. But he'd made his choice and that was that. Another one night stand to brag about to Gwaine. Nothing more. It most definitely hadn't been anything more.

Before he really knew what he was doing, he found himself making his way back to the room. Not that he was looking for him, or for anything that might tell Arthur who the hell he was, but just because. Just because. He didn't even notice until he was standing in the doorway that Lance had followed him there, a very confused look on his face.

"Arthur, why are you in this room?"

"Oh, um", he bluffed, trying to think of some reasonable explanation. "That guy, I said, the one who was going to, uh… get me that job. I thought I saw him come in here last night. Thought he might still be in here". But his heart sunk a little as he realised the room had been completely cleared out. No piles of clothes on the floor, no bag at the doorway, no invitingly warm body curled under the blankets. Nothing.

"Well that's strange", Lance interrupted. Arthur turned around and gave him a questioning look.

"What d'you mean, that's strange?"

"I dunno, but you must have been mistaken. This is the room that Merlin always stays in and there's no way that lazy bugger would have a job, much less be able to get one for someone else". Arthur's head whirled. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be right. Was he in the right room? Surely he couldn't be in the right room. How could this be Merlin's room? He tried to replay what had happened last night. They hadn't just stumbled into a random room, no, Arthur had watched the black haired boy go into this room and then followed-

Black hair. Blue eyes. Pale skin. Well they weren't exactly uncommon characteristics around here but… oh god. The ears. They had the same bloody ears. How could he have missed that? Sure it had been kind of dark and he'd had other things on his mind at the time, but how many people did you meet with those sort of ears?

His head was still spinning and he felt the sudden urge to sit down. And possibly throw up. And sleep. He wasn't quite sure which of those were side effects of the hang over and which were from the huge fucking bomb that had just been lobbed at him.

_He slept with Merlin _fucking _Emrys._

As in childhood best friend, _Merlin Emrys. _Wait, had he just called him his best friend?

More like most annoying little prat in the world, _Merlin Emrys._

Either way, he'd slept with Merlin Emrys.

Right.

It was only when he leant on the desk for support that he realised something was different. There were a few sticky notes strewn around and a pen and-

This had to be a bloody joke. Honestly? Was this seriously happening? As he picked up the little knob that was left of the blue crayon and thumbed it into his palm, he couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself. Surely this couldn't all be a coincidence. Nine years had passed and he hadn't heard a single whisper about Merlin Emrys, and then all in one night he ends up at the same party, in the same game of spin the bottle, which lead to the same room and same bed as each other, and now he'd been reunited with the other missing half of the crayon. If he wasn't a sceptic about such things, he'd have said it was fate.

Lance moved in beside him and picked up one of the sticky notes on the desk and let out a small laugh. Arthur moved in closer to see what was so funny. "Apparently he's some boy genius", he told Arthur, passing him the note. "But I read this and it doesn't look like the idiot is a day over eight". Arthur couldn't help but be amused at the blue childish scrawl. The blue childish scrawl that is that almost identically matched the note he'd been clutching last night. Same writer, same writing, same crayon, but with nine years difference between the two notes.

Arthur made up his mind in that moment though. "Hey Lance?"

Lance looked up at him. "Yeah?"

Arthur took a deep breath. "I'm gonna need Merlin's number". He'd let Merlin get away once, and he'd paid dearly for that mistake. He sure as hell wasn't going to make it a second time.

This time he wasn't going to let Merlin get away.

* * *

**A/N:** _Tada! Hopefully you'll get the next chapter this weekend :) As always, please feel free to point out any stupid mistakes my sleep deprived brain has made or just to be your lovely selves and say hi!_


	17. Chapter 17

Lying to his mother was a skill that Merlin unfortunately didn't happen to possess. And even if he had been able to lie to her, he doubted even then he'd be able to get away with anything. When it came to finding out what Merlin had done wrong, he was sure his mother had the nose of a hell hound, mind reading abilities and x-ray vision. He just couldn't catch a lucky break.

As he'd jimmied the key into the stiff lock and opened the notoriously squeaky door he'd expected his mother to descend on him like a creature from hell… but what he'd gotten was worse. He should have known better. He found his mother busying herself away in the kitchen, absentmindedly humming a happy tune to herself, whilst preparing a breakfast fit for a king. There was half an orchard of fruit on the table already, alongside a generous bowl of her famous homemade blueberry yoghurt. As she heard him enter she called out a cheery, oh Merlin, home already?, before turning back to the stove where golden pancakes and bacon and eggs were sizzling. Still humming to herself she piled the hoard onto a platter and brought it out to the table, reaching up on her tippy toes to kiss Merlin's cheek as she passed. This was going to be worse than he'd expected.

For most other kids, Merlin thought to himself, there wouldn't be anything wrong with their mother doing this for them. Hell, if he'd had any other mother he'd have been ecstatic about it. But Merlin was dealing with Hunith Emrys here, who was quite possibly the world's most manipulative and cunning evil genius if there ever was one. They could probably make a Bond movie with her as the villain. Except Hunith Emrys wouldn't try and kill Bond, oh no, instead she'd torture him with sweetness and loveliness until he was twisted completely around her little finger. When Hunith Emrys went to the dark side, not even a million Jedi's could stand in her way. And Merlin was stuck here by himself. He was so beyond screwed.

"Merlin", she called over her shoulder while fiddling around with the kettle, "aren't you going to sit down?" There was no chance of escape now. His mother brought over a cup of tea and set it down next to his place as he took his seat. She took the seat directly opposite his and gave him a triumphant don't-you-dare-think-you-can-lie -to-me-now-boy smirk. "Well", she said pleasantly, as though she hadn't been plotting his murder all night, "eat up!"

Merlin looked down at the food as though it was poisoned. It was like standing on a trap door, knowing that as soon he took a bite of the food it'd open up and he'd fall into his mother's cage. But god it was a sight for sore, and very hung over, eyes, and he wasn't sure if he had the will power to refuse it. He faintly remembered a bedtime story his mother used to tell him about a little boy who wandered into a castle made out of food but couldn't eat anything otherwise he'd be trapped forever, and in this situation the irony was not lost on him. One bite of the absolutely mouth-watering feast in front of him and his mother would have all the cards in her hand, which she'd use to get every last detail out of him. Even on his best of days he'd have trouble standing up to this one, and today certainly wasn't his best of days.

Merlin gave up. Let his mother throw whatever psychological warfare she could on him, he just wanted some of this bloody food.

"'S good", he mumbled out from a mouth crammed with bacon and pancake a few minutes later. His mother hadn't touched her food yet, but was staring at him with a calculating glare. Merlin knew he only had moments before she struck, so he shoved as much food as he could into his mouth, hoping it'd at least deter her for a while longer. Apparently it didn't.

"So Merlin", she began, taking a sip of her tea. "I had an interesting conversation last night". Merlin gulped down the food in his mouth.

"Did you? That's, um, nice", he bluffed, helping himself to the yoghurt.

"Well, you see, I thought I'd give Mrs Lott a call to thank her for letting you sleep over". Uh oh. "But the funny thing was she didn't seem to know anything about you sleeping over". She took another sip of her tea, her hawk-like eyes not leaving Merlin's. He felt like he was a mouse she'd snatched up in her talons and was slowly squeezing to death.

"That's weird", he replied, trying to avoid her gaze. "Lance must have forgotten to mention it. You know, graduation and all. Must've slipped his mind". He was in trouble now. He wondered if he'd have time to grab his plate and sprint out of the house before she could catch him. He didn't like his chances.

"Hmm, weird indeed. But you know what's weirder?" Merlin shook his head nervously. "Well, she didn't know anything about you sleeping over, but she did happen to know about something else". Merlin felt the seconds tick by slowly until he realised she was waiting for him to say something.

"Oh, uh… and what was that?" He shoved more bacon into his mouth, hoping to at least get through the meal before she killed him.

"Well, it was funny, because she said Lance was throwing a party". Merlin nearly choked on his food. Dammit.

"A party?" Merlin's usual escape method when he got into trouble was to deny, deny, deny. The chances of it working this time were practically zero to none, but it was worth it shot. "She must've been mistaken, it was just Lance and I there".

"Oh well that's what I thought", she said pleasantly. Merlin almost let himself believe that that was the end of it. Maybe this time she really had just decided to cook him a nice meal, no guilt trip, no mind games. He tried his hardest to avoid eye contact and as a result nearly face planted in his plate, but he could only keep it up for so long. Reluctantly, he gulped down his remaining mouthful of food and raised his eyes to meet hers. He didn't like what he found. She giving him the stare that he knew all too well from his childhood, the I-know-what's-going-on-so-you'd-better-just-admit-it stare. "Is there something you're not telling me, Merlin?"

He should have known he wouldn't have gotten away with it so easy. If it hadn't been something so big and if he hadn't just wolfed down that amazing breakfast he might have considered lying, but he figured if he fessed up now he might get away with his head. Life time grounding would probably be the best possible scenario.

"Okay", he admitted slowly. "But it's really not as bad as you think it is". She narrowed her eyes slightly. "There was a party, but it was really boring, you know, just couple people".

"If it was so boring then", she replied, her voice rising to an unbearable shrill, "then I'm sure you won't mind me speaking like this!" Merlin winced and the ringing in his head returned. Hunith 1 – Merlin 0.

"Okay, we may have had a couple drinks.."

"A couple drinks? Your breath smells like you drank half a liquor store!"

"I'm not allowed to celebrate graduation?"

"Not when you think you can lie to me boy and get away with it!"

His sluggish brain was whirring trying to come up with an appropriate comeback. C'mon brain, c'mon. He opened his mouth, hoping whatever came out of it would sedate her.

"Yeah, well, um-"He almost had a half decent sentence formed when he was interrupted by a vibration from his jeans. Answering a text whilst in the middle of an argument with his mother was a sure fire way to get back in her good books, and on any other day he would have simply ignored it. But something was different about this text, although he might still have been slightly drunk and very much hung-over, because he swore that it was almost burning a hole in his jeans, demanding to be looked at. Well, it wasn't really like he could get in any more trouble at the moment.

He tried to slide the phone out of his pocket as subtly as possible, while his mother continued on her fiery rampage. Keeping the phone under the table and trying to look like he was deeply repentant about his actions, he opened the new message on the screen.

_Hi Merlin. I'm not even sure if you remember me, but it's Arthur Pend-_

Wait, had Merlin just gotten a text from Arthur Pendragon? His brain took temporary absence from the situation at hand and went into overdrive. Why was he texting him? Was he back in Albion? Why did he want to text Merlin? How'd he even get his number? How'd he even remember him? It wasn't like Merlin had been such a huge part of his life; one childhood summer was easily forgotten. Well maybe some of those questions would be answered if he stopped freaking out for a second and read the rest of the message.

He tuned back into is mother's rampage, which had escalated to the point of furious hand waving and reddening cheeks. He knew he really should try and diffuse the situation first, but the butterflies in his stomach were nearly as mad as his mother and he really just couldn't wait.

"Uh mum-" he interrupted, knowing it'd probably be his dying words, "I really gotta go". Not waiting to see her explode in a fiery ball of rage he backed out of his chair and ran for the door. Her shrill shrieks were cut off as he wrenched the front door open and slammed it behind him, but he knew he'd have hell to pay later. But right now, he really didn't care.

Hands shaking slightly – oh god am I 13 again? – he opened the text message again, reading it fully.

_Hi Merlin. I'm not even sure if you remember me, but it's Arthur Pendragon. It's been a while, huh? This is going to sound rly weird, but I need to talk to you._

He felt his feet start moving along the pavement as he contemplated what to send back._ OMG IT'S BEEN 4EVS_ was probably a bit of an overkill, but_ oh, I think I kinda remember you_ was just outright lying. What was he meant to say in this situation? What if it wasn't actually Arthur but just some idiot screwing around with him? Or what if it was Arthur, but he just screwing around with him? Merlin's mind flashed back to the worms put in his desk drawer and being bombarded with pink glitter. Arthur Pendragon playing a practical joke? He really wouldn't put it past him.

He furrowed his brow in concentration and fumbled the keys of his phone as he tapped out a response that he hoped wouldn't make him sound like a complete idiot, or a complete tool. With a nervous sigh he pressed the send button, trying to ignore how much his hands were shaking.

* * *

Arthur nearly hit the roof when his phone sounded a few minutes after he'd sent the text. He suspiciously eyed the little black device sitting innocently across the room as though it would explode should he make any sudden movements. His heart was almost beating out of his chest and his palms were as sweaty as they'd been when he'd kissed a girl for the first time. Merlin had responded to his text. He'd actually responded. And all Arthur had to do was cross the room, pick up the phone and read what he'd said. But that was where Arthur was stuck.

It was a rare moment in his life where Arthur really had no idea what to bloody expect. That message could say _Arthur I know it was you last night and I am so deeply in love with you_, or it could be_ who the fuck is this? Piss off you bloody wanker._ The anticipation was making Arthur want to smash his head against the wall.

_I wouldn't recommend that if I was you._

Arthur spun around the room, trying to identify where that voice had come from. He ran to window and thrust it open, fully expecting it to be some stupid prank of Gwaine's, but no one was there. He shot another suspicious glance at the phone, as though it had someone started talking in order to torment him further. He crouched down on the floor and searched underneath his bed for some sort of device that could have said that, but again, nothing. Maybe he'd just let his mind wander and that had popped into his head. The voice did sound unusually familiar, like something he'd half forgotten - had he heard it on the TV? That had to be it.

_I'm not really in the mood for playing games, Pendragon, the voice sounded again._ Okay, he definitely hadn't heard that in a movie and it definitely hadn't come from his own thoughts. Arthur thought back to Morgana's death metal slash witchcraft stage she'd gone through a couple of years ago – was she casting some sort of weird hoodoo stuff on him?

_I wouldn't put it past the witch, but no, Pendragon_. Wait, was it actually answering him now?

"She's not a witch," he said loudly, but then quickly silenced himself in case anyone happened to be walking by. Maybe he was still slightly drunk. But he really hadn't drunk that much and he'd never had hallucinations befo-

_I really don't have the patience to go through this again Pendragon. Emrys wearied me enough and he's always been the more intelligent of you two._

"Are you calling me an idiot?" Well Arthur had to hand it to himself, that really was a brilliant question. Yes, was the imaginary voice in his head calling him an idiot? Then the other part of that remark sunk in. "Wait- you've talked to Merlin?" The voice sighed like a parent tired of explaining a rather dull concept to a not too-bright child.

_The years that have passed still haven't made you more observant I see._

"The years since what?"

_All in good time._ This whole enigmatic shtick was starting to frustrate Arthur.

"Okay you listen up-"

_I think it'd be best if you stopped shouting at that wall, Pendragon. I'm told to believe that speaking to oneself often creates the illusion of insanity to others._

God, the voice was a smartass as well. _So what, I just say stuff in my head and you can hear me?_

_Exactly._

_Right, so assuming for a second that you're not a figment of my drunken imagination-_

_I can assure you I'm not._

_- just let me finish will you? Anyway, so assuming you're not- what the bloody hell are you doing in my head? More to the point, how the bloody hell did you get into my head?_

_I've always been here._

_What, in my head?_

_Of course a Pendragon would think this whole situation revolves entirely around him._ Arthur chose to ignore that comment_. But no, I'm not trapped in your head exactly, I just access it. We are connected, you see. _

_Uh no, I don't see._ Again the voice sighed wearily.

_There's no way I can explain this that won't have you questioning your own sanity I'm afraid._

_I don't think there's any way this can get any crazier._

This earned a chuckle from the voice. _Oh I wouldn't count on that just yet._

_Can you just get to the point already?_

_If you wish. All I can say right now is that you have to trust him._

_Trust who?_

_Your other half._

_My other what?_

_Half. Please pay attention._

_Are you saying I have a twin or something?_ The voice was silent for a few moments, as if unsure on quite how to respond to that.

_I see now why I chose not to confer with you in the past. You are definitely not the brains of the pair._

_Oi! It'd help it you didn't try to be so mystical and all that crap._

_I really don't have the patience for this, Pendragon._

_Well that makes two of us._

_Just heed my warning – what has come to pass before will come to pass again, but only if the coin remains divided._

_What coin are we talking about?_

_Pendragon! The coin cannot remain divided. You must trust him – the circle may yet be broken._

_But I have no idea what-_

But there was an emptiness to his mind now that told him the voice, whatever the hell it had been, had left. As he zoned back into reality he found that during the discussion he'd somehow wandered away from where he'd been and was standing directly in front of the phone. The screen was still lit up and displaying _1 New Message – Merlin Emrys_.

Arthur snatched up the phone quickly, not even caring at this point what it read. After all, he'd just had a discussion with an imaginary voice in his head, a discussion which would probably get him locked in an institute if he ever told his father about it, so in perspective a rejection didn't really seem all that bad. Well, that's what he tried to tell himself at least. With fumbling fingers he brought up the message.

_Hey – it's good to hear from you. Where do you wanna meet?_

Arthur let out his breath in relief. Surely it had to mean something that Merlin remembered him after all these years. Or did that make it worse? What was Merlin going to think when he realised who he'd accidently slept with? What if-

He stopped his mind from going down that dangerous path. Better just to focus on the matter at hand. Namely, where they were going to meet. It would just be plain awkward if Arthur invited him here and Merlin flipped out – it'd also be pretty hard explaining to his father why a boy had just run screaming out of the living room swearing to never drink again lest he accidently sleep with a childhood friend. Gwaine would never let him live it down. But then only twelve year olds invited their crush – not that Merlin was his crush – to the mall or somewhere corny like that. He needed a better plan, and fast. The sooner he saw Merlin the better.

Then seemingly out of nowhere an image found its way to the front of his mind, and image he hadn't thought about in a long, long time.

He couldn't help but allow himself a small chuckle as he tapped out a response. It may have taken him nine years, but it seemed Prince Arthur was returning to his castle after all.

* * *

The vibration in Merlin's hand made him stop dead on the sidewalk. He glanced down at his phone nervously, unsure of what to do next. He wasn't going to lie, he was dying to open the message, but he kept thinking back to what his mother had always told him – if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Arthur Pendragon just suddenly arriving in town after nine years? Good, but not mind-blowingly so. But Arthur Pendragon just suddenly arriving in town after nine years and wanting to see Merlin? Most definitely too good.

Even though he could hear the logical side of himself screaming for doing so, he opened the message. After all he was Merlin, King of Bad and Illogical Decisions, and he'd rather walk straight into some stupid situation than miss out on the opportunity to see Arthur again.

_You wouldn't happen to remember the way back to the tree house would you?_

Merlin's heart almost literally skipped a beat. God, it'd been years since he'd even thought about the place. Even after all the hard work Merlin had put into it, he'd only gone back to the tree house once in the past nine years, and it'd been the day after Arthur had left. He'd gone out there with the full intention of fixing it up so he and Will could play in it, but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to do it. By himself, the colours didn't seem as bright, nor the sun as warm. A place that had been filled with so many happy memories had just withered away into a damp, creaky box in the branches of an old tree. Without Arthur the tree house seemed to be dead.

Now how would it be, after all these years? Would it still be there? What if some other kids had found it and made it their own? The thought stirred anger in Merlin. It was their place, no one else's. Better judgment told him that the tree house would have fallen down by now, that there was no way it would have survived this long. But something in Merlin knew better. The tree house hadn't died after Arthur left – it had fallen asleep.

_And it's not the only thing waiting to be awoken._

The thought startled Merlin - like this morning he'd sworn it had come out of nowhere, but it wasn't the same voice he'd heard. It spoke in the same manner as the other voice, with the deep gravity of age and knowledge, but Merlin realised, it hadn't been a stranger's voice – it had been his own. It had been his own voice but it hadn't; it was as though it belonged to a different part of him, some part he'd long forgotten. But that sounded ridiculous. And "not the only thing waiting to be awoken"… what was that supposed to mean?

Merlin turned the corner and the forest came into view, the thoughts in his head quickly being replaced by the butterflies in his stomach. He let out a deep breath and held up the phone to reply.

_Race you there._

* * *

**A/N:**_ Long time, no update – so sorry about that! More regular updates should be coming soon, and thanks for sticking around this long J I'm starting to plot out the ending now, so if you have suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear them! Also I can't remember if I asked, but how's everyone doing post-finale? Hopefully the broken hearts are starting to heal :P _

**Copyright:**_ I (sadly) don't own Merlin, everything belongs to its respective owners. _


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: _Huge apologies for the lack of updates, I won't make excuses but I really am sorry :) Here's the final chapter of this story, and I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed and sent me messages telling me to get my ass into gear - I think you've drastically overestimated my writing abilities, but I hope this lives up to your expectations. You're all wonderful people. An epilogue will be up shortly._

* * *

Merlin always loved the feeling of stepping into the shade of the forest. It was like slipping underwater, only he didn't have to hold his breath. The way the trees stretched out their arms to him, as open and inviting as they were when he was seven, the way the sweat on his brow chilled, sending shivers down his spine. It felt as much like home as it did something forbidden.

He seemed to be doing a lot of forbidden things as of late. Blushing, he pushed away the memory of warm flesh against his, of bed springs squealing in soft protest. He also tried to push away the soft anger rising up in him, but that refused to be quelled so easily. Merlin wasn't the sort of person that got angry easily, and the slow fire that was burning in him now almost came as a surprise. After all, what right did he have to be angry? Who was he even angry at? Himself? Blonde Stranger? It sounded like such a stupid nickname now, like something that belonged within the imagination of a bored housewife. _Blonde Stranger. _Blonde Dickhead more like. He was probably one of those tools who peroxided their hair and got their eyebrows trimmed at some fancy schmancy salon. Not-even-naturally-blonde-but-just-a-vain-bastard Dickhead did have a nice ring to it. He proceeded to make a few more unflattering names as he stumbled along the twisting path, but he knew that making fun of the guy's name and hair wasn't lessening the pain even a little.

* * *

If there was ever a time to be freaking out, Arthur thought, it would be now. For one, the ladder to the tree house was creaking just a bit too much for his liking, and two, he was only minutes away from meeting Merlin again. Well, meeting Merlin properly this time. Without the anonymous drunken sex. Well if he was being honest, he wouldn't complain if it did come to that-

Stay focused Arthur. Not the time to be thinking about that.

"Hello Merlin", he practised, his voice coming out a few octaves higher than normal. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Merlin, good to see you". _Good to see you? _That's the best he could come up with? _Hi, you used to hate me but then we were best friends but then I left but then I came back and we may or may not have slept together last night. Good to see you._ He'd never had this sort of trouble talking to girls. Gwaine would be shitting himself with laughter if he were here. Arthur Pendragon, international lady charmer, trying to seduce someone, _not seduce dammit, _with 'good to see you'. He was losing his touch.

He wiped his palms, which were only sweaty because of the climb up to the tree house, not because he was freaking out or anything, on the back of his jeans and tried to take in his surroundings to distract himself. As soon as he'd sent the text he'd regretted it, a couple of mouldy planks of wood suspended in the branches of a tree in the middle of who knows where was hardly the appropriate setting to break this sort of news to a guy. But he'd trudged out there anyway, more than a little surprised to find he still somehow knew the way, only to find the exact opposite to what he'd expected. Sure there was a little bit of wear and tear on the old treehouse, but not nearly anything compared to what Arthur had imagined nine years would do to it. It was odd to say the least, everything in his life had changed but this little wooden box looked almost like he'd just left it yesterday. Like it was trapped in some sort of bubble, protected from the rest of the world. Waiting for him, no, for them, to come back to it.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle when something shifted in the bushes down below, but after a few moments of silence he released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. False alarm. He let his fingers brush along the paint work on the wall of the poor old thing, small flecks of paint and dust alike slowly drifting to the floor. The colours weren't as bright as they once had been and it was peeling in some places, but he couldn't force the smile off his face. Arthur couldn't even count the hours he'd spent staring at it that one summer, when, to a kid's untrained eye, it had seemed like one of the finest masterpieces he'd ever seen. Now, he chuckled at the childish lines of the great castle and the grey splodge in the sky that Merlin had assured him was a dragon, but to Arthur looked more like a dog with wings and a huge, annoyingly smug smile.

He was valiantly battling with some of the branches that had grown through cracks in the walls when he heard a twig snap somewhere down below, his body freezing for a second time.

Shit. He reckoned if he kicked out the other side of the tree house and jumped he could get away in time. Don't even think about it, he told himself. Man up, Pendragon. The wooden planks on the ladder were creaking with the weight of their climber. Shit shit _shit_. A few moments later the creaking stopped. He must have reached the top. Arthur's heart was beating at a speed that surely couldn't be healthy when, _oh holy fuck_, a pale white hand reached into the tree house and grasped onto a plank of wood. Keep calm Pendragon. You can do this.

The pale hand was followed by an equally pale arm and before Arthur had a second chance to survey any possible escape methods, a mop of black hair had appeared, framing a face of high cheekbones and blue eyes. His eyes were cast down, deliberately avoiding Arthur's, and a pink flush had settled on his ears and neck that Arthur couldn't tell whether was from the strain of climbing or from embarrassment. Either way, it was adorable as fuck.

As lithe as a cat, Merlin swung one leg after the other into the tree house, picking himself up and brushing himself off. His eyes were still trained on the floor. With a start, Arthur realised he should probably be saying something. He opened his mouth but promptly shut it, gulping air like a fish. He tried again.

"Uh, Merlin?" Off to a great start so far. He ignored the slight waver in his voice.

Merlin raised his head slowly, eyes scanning upwards over Arthur's body. A light shiver ran down Arthur's spine.

"And Arthur I'm guessing?" Merlin finally met his eyes, the polite but awkward smile you'd give to a long lost childhood friend on his face.

So he doesn't recognise me, Arthur thought, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed. He was almost considering forgetting the incident entirely, putting it down to a drunken hallucination, when something in Merlin's face shifted. His eyes widened and then narrowed menacingly as a realisation dawned on him. Arthur gulped. He hadn't exactly been expecting Merlin to throw himself into his arms, but shit, he looked _angry_. Before he had a moment to diffuse the situation, Merlin's body crouched back into what Arthur's training recognised as a strike pose and launched himself towards Arthur. This wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind by Merlin throwing himself into his arms. Instinctively, Arthur side stepped the approaching black haired missile of fury and unable to stop in time, watched as Merlin hit the wall that had been behind him. Nine years and military training had certainly changed Arthur, but it evidently hadn't improved Merlin's fighting style. The sight would have been hilarious if it wasn't making Arthur want to punch himself. He tried again.

"Merlin?" The other boy, no, the other _man, _Arthur corrected himself, didn't respond but slumped against the wall, letting himself drop to the ground. Arthur watched as Merlin shuffled his back against the wall and huddled his knees up to his chest defensively.

"This was a really great joke", he mumbled into his knees. "You really outdid yourself this time, you wanker".

That sent a shock through Arthur's body. Merlin thought he was just messing around with him?

"Almost better than the time you stuck worms in my desk", Merlin continued, chuckling humourlessly. He stopped chuckling suddenly and his head snapped up, gaze piercing right through Arthur. "If this is your idea of fun you're really messed up, you know that?"

Arthur had no idea how to respond. Instead, he moved over to where Merlin was slumped and joined him, barely brushing his shoulder against the other man's.

"Merlin I swear to god none of this is a joke". Merlin scoffed. "I know I'm a prick some of the times, okay, most of the times, but I'd never do that. Not to anyone. Especially not to you."

* * *

Merlin couldn't quite remember the last time he'd taken a breath. One second he was pulling himself into the tree house and locking eyes with a familiar looking stranger, and the next he was hurling himself full speed towards a wall. Well the wall part had been accidental. It still hurt though.

Now he took a deep breath and allowed himself a glance at the man crouched next to him. Without a doubt, it was Blonde Stranger, but more importantly, it was Arthur Pendragon. Wrapping his mind around the fact that his childhood enemy and best friend was back was one thing, wrapping his mind around the fact that he had slept with said enemy and best friend was entirely different.

The easiest thing right now would be to run away. To tell Pendragon to go fuck himself instead and leave before he could get a second word in. It would be quick, simple and practically painless. They could both pretend that it never happened and move on. But the way that Arthur was looking at him, almost desperately… well, Merlin had always been a bit of a masochist.

He relaxed and let his arms fall down to his sides, letting go of his defensiveness.

"You look a lot better than the scrawny brat that left nine years ago", Merlin joked softly, a small smile of amusement coming to his lips. He caught Arthur's eyes and noticed the faint blush pooling under the other man's fair skin.

"Yeah well you still fight like a girl", Arthur shot back. Merlin ran his hand over the lump on his forehead that was already throbbing and winced a bit.

"I can't argue with that one", he admitted.

Cautiously, as though he was some wild animal that would startle easily, Arthur moved closer to him and laced their fingers together. When Merlin caught his eyes he could see the million different questions running through them, and a vulnerability that Merlin could never have imagined seeing from the Arthur Pendragon that he once knew. Merlin slid his thumb over Arthur's, giving silent permission that this was okay and tentative forgiveness. He felt Arthur tense up slightly and saw him opening and closing his mouth, which he seemed to have a habit of doing, as if he wasn't quite sure how to say something.

"But what I don't get", he began awkwardly, "is why you left. I mean I thought-"

"I didn't leave, you did", Merlin argued. Arthur gave him the same look he knew so well from his childhood, the what-the-actual-hell-are-you-talking-about-you-idi ot look. It almost made him smile to know some things never changed.

"No you idiot", Arthur cried, "you were gone when I woke up and you did a runner out the back door!"

"I was in the shower you clotpole! I thought you'd run for it".

They both stared at each other in confusion, almost unwilling to believe that all this had come from such a simple case of bad timing. Arthur was the first to break the silence, letting out a chuckle that soon erupted into full blown laughter when Merlin joined in.

"We really are idiots", Arthur admitted.

"I think most of the idiocy can be attributed to you", Merlin retorted, and Arthur would have complained if Merlin hadn't climbed into his lap at that moment, straddling his thighs. Arthur decided he could put up with a bit of name calling for this.

Arthur shifted so that his back was against the wall and Merlin wrapped his legs around Arthur's waist, settling his head onto Arthur's chest. Arthur wrapped one arm around him and carded through his messy locks with his other hand. Merlin could tell Arthur was almost dying to make some comment about how Merlin was the girl in this relationship, but he doubted any amount of teasing would ruin his mood. He smiled into Arthur's shirt, feeling the strong heartbeat of the other man underneath his hard chest. Then a thought occurred to him.

"But how'd you know it was me?" Arthur laughed at that.

"How many other people do you see with your sort of ears?" Merlin wasn't sure whether to laugh or hit him. He ended up doing both, chuckling as he gave Arthur a slightly harder than necessary punch on the arm. "But I also found this", Arthur continued, barely feeling Merlin's punch. He pulled the little crayon stub that he'd found with Merlin's note out of his pocket. "You left this behind".

Merlin stared at the broken, gnarled little crayon that looked like something that belonged with the plethora of junk that usually accumulates behind couch cushions.

"You know the reason I stole this?" Arthur asked quietly. Merlin pretended to ponder it for a minute.

"Because you were an A-grade twat obsessed with annoying me?"

"Well that was part of the reason", Arthur admitted. "But it was also because, well, I wanted to talk to you, but I didn't know how". Merlin gaped at him disbelievingly. "Looking back on it, stealing someone's favourite possession isn't the ideal way to make a new friend, but it seemed logical at the time".

"People always say boys bully their crushes", Merlin remarked.

"Which just gives all the more evidence that you're actually a girl", and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"I was just waiting for the you're-a-girl tease".

"It was necessary", Arthur laughed.

"How long have you been holding on to that one?" Arthur smiled and pressed a kiss into Merlin's hair.

"About nine years".

"Was it worth the wait?" Merlin asked softly.

"It was worth a thousand years of waiting".

Merlin leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Arthur's lips and settled back against his chest.

"Good", he murmured, trying to contain his smile. He was warm and safe in Arthur's arms, and he was never going to leave.


End file.
